'Can   I  get  to  stay  with  you  to-night,  mads 


IN  THE  BRUSH; 

OR, 

OLD-TIME  SOCIAL,  POLITICAL,  AND  RELIGIOUS  LIFE 
.  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST. 


BY 

/ 
REV.   HAMILTON   W.  ^PIERSON,   D.  D., 

EX-PRESIDENT   OF   CUMBERLAND    COLLEGE,  KENTUCKY  J    AUTHOR    OF   "  JEFFERSON 

AT    MONTICELLO "  ;      CORRESPONDING     MEMBER    OF    THE    NEW 

YORK   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY,    ETC. 


WITU  ILLUSTRATIONS  BY  W.  L.  SUEPPARD. 


NEW   YORK: 
D.   APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

1,  3,  AKD  5  BOND  STEEET. 
1881. 


COPY  WO  UT  BY 

D.  APPLETON   AND  COMPANY, 
1881. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEB  PACK 

I. — WHY   I    RELATE  MY   EXPERIENCES  IN  THE  SOUTH- 

WEST.     INTRODUCTORY  .  .  .  .1 

II. — MY   OUTFIT   FOB   MY   LIFE   IN   THE   BRUSH     .  .  12 

III. — THE  ITINERANT  PIONEER   PREACHER'S  FAITHFUL  HOBSE  .      35 

IV. — OLD-TIME  HOSPITALITY  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST  .  47 

V. — OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS  IN  THE  BRUSH     .  .     60 

VI. — THE  BAPTISM  OF  A  SCOTCH  BABY  IN  THE  WILDS  OF 

THE  SOUTHWEST    .  ....  82 

VII. — BARBECUES,   AND  A   BARBECUE   WEDDING-FEAST   IN 

THE  SOUTHWEST          .  .  .  .  .90 

VIII. — THE  OLD,  OLD  BOOK,  AND  ITS  STORY  IN  THE  WILDS 

OF  THE  SOUTHWEST         ....         103 
IX. — CANDIDATING;  OR,  OLD-TIME  METHODS  AND  HUMORS 

OF  OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST         .  .130 

X. — SOME  STRANGE  EXPERIENCES  WITH  A  CANDIDATE  IN 

THE  BRUSH  .....         156 

XI. — EXPERIENCES   WITH   OLD-TIME   METHODIST   CIRCUIT- 
RIDERS  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST    .  .171 


2212575 


iv  CONTENTS. 

(••Arm  PAGE 

XII. — HEROIC  CHRISTIAN  WORKERS  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST  193 

XIII. — STBANOB  PEOPLE  I  HAVE  MET  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST  .  204 

XIV. — OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS  IN  THE  BRUSH  238 

X  V. — "  ORTO.VVILLE  " ;  OR,  THE  UNIVERSAL  POWER  OF  SA- 
CRED BONO      ......  278 

XVI. — WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST  294 


IN   THE    BRUSH. 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHY   I   RELATE   MY   EXPERIENCES    IN   THE   SOUTHWEST. IN- 
TRODUCTORY. 

ON  a  visit  to  New  York,  many  years  ago,  after  the 
first  few  months  of  my  ministerial  labors  in  the  wilds 
of  the  Southwest,  I  met  a  warm  personal  friend,  a 
genial,  generous,  noble  Christian  woman,  who  at  once 
said  to  me : 

"And  so  you  are  a  "Western  missionary.  "Well,  do 
tell  me  if  anything  strange  or  funny  ever  did  happen 
to  a  missionary.  Mother  has  taken  the  home-mission- 
ary papers  ever  since  I  was  a  child,  and  I  always  read 
them ;  and  I  often  wonder  if  anything  strange  or  fun- 
ny did  ever  happen  to  a  "Western  missionary." 

I  had  recently  spent  three  happy  years  in  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary  in  that  city,  and  had 
come  back  to  attend  the  heart-stirring  anniversaries, 
held  in  those  days  in  the  old  Broadway  Tabernacle, 
and  to  meet  again  the  many  friends  who  had  followed 


2  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

me  in  my  labors  with  their  kind  wishes  and  their 
prayers.  Though  nearly  thirty  years  have  passed  since 
I  n-ci-ivi-d  that  greeting,  I  have  never  forgotten,  and 
hav«-  very  often  recalled  it.  And  I  have  as  often 
thought  that  it  was  most  natural  that  the  churches 
and  people  at  large  who  send  forth  and  sustain  the 
heroic  laborers  who  are  toiling  in  the  varied  depart- 
ments of  Christian  effort  in  our  newer  States  and  Ter- 
ritories, should  desire  a  much  fuller  account  of  their 
daily  lives  and  labors.  As  many  of  them  travel  ex- 
tensively, and  see  pioneer  border-life  in  all  its  aspects 
and  phases,  I  have  thought  it  most  natural  and  rea- 
sonable that  the  people  should  desire  to  know  more  of 
their  adventures ;  more  of  their  contact  with  the  rough, 
whole-souled  people  with  whom  they  so  often  meet 
and  mingle ;  more  of  that  strange  compound  of  energy, 
recklessness,  and  daring,  the  hardy  hosts  who  erect 
their  log-cabins  and  fell  the  forests  in  the  van  of  our 
American  civilization,  in  its  triumphant  westward 
march.  Only  one  day  in  seven  is  set  apart  as  sacred 
time,  and  only  a  few  hours  of  that  day  are  devoted 
to  what  are  generally  regarded  as  spiritual  duties.  A 
description  of  these  duties  alone,  whether  performed 
on  Sabbath-days  or  week-days,  is  a  very  inadequate 
description  of  missionary  life  as  &  whole.  In  order  to 
perform  these  duties,  a  man  must  eat  and  drink,  take 
care  of  his  body,  mingle  with  the  world,  and  meet  all 
his  responsibilities  as  a  man  and  a  citizen. 


EXPERIENCE.  3 

In  the  pages  that  follow  it  will  be  my  purpose  to 
present  a  portraiture  of  ministerial  life  in  the  wilds 
of  the  Southwest,  in  all  its  aspects  and  phases,  exactly 
as  I  found  it.  I  shall  attempt  to  portray  week-day 
life  as  well  as  Sunday  life.  I  shall  describe  scenes  of 
wonderful  and  thrilling  religious  interest,  and  the  most 
common  and  homely  incidents  of  e very-day  life,  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  give  an  idea  of  my  life  as  a  whole. 
I  shall  attempt  to  describe  the  politicians,  preachers, 
and  people ;  the  country  in  which  they  live,  their 
manners  and  customs,  their  barbecues,  basket-meetings, 
and  weddings,  and  all  the  peculiarities  of  their  open, 
free,  and  genial  home-life  in  its  social,  political,  and 
religious  aspects  and  relations.  In  this  I  shall  be  suc- 
cessful only  so  far  as  I  succeed  in  perfectly  describ- 
ing their  life  and  my  own  during  the  many  years  that 
I  mingled  with  them. 

My  lady  friend  and  questioner,  to  whom  I  have 
referred,  was  slightly  mistaken  in  calling  me  a  "mis- 
sionary." I  was  not  one  in  name.  At  the  time  of 
my  graduation  from  the  Theological  Seminary,  I  was 
under  appointment  as  a  missionary  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  to  West 
Africa;  but  haemorrhages  from  my  lungs  prevented 
my  entrance  upon  that  work. 

'  After  extended  travels  by  sea  and  land  for  nearly 
five  years,  I  had  so  far  recovered  my  voice  as  to  be 
able  to  preach,  and  was  very  anxious  to  be  about  my 


4  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

chosen  life-work.  But  my  physicians — Dr.  Gurdon 
I  luck,  Dr.  Alfred  C.  Post,  and  Dr.  John  H.  Swett,  of 
the  University  Medical  College — as  kind  as  they  were 
di.-tinguished  and  skillful,  told  me  that  I  would  never 
l)e  able  to  perform  the  duties  of  a  settled  pastor;  that 
the  study,  labor,  and  care  of  such  a  life  would  com- 
pletely break  down  my  health  in  a  very  few  months. 
They  told  me  that  I  must  engage  in  some  labor  that 
would  give  me  a  large  amount  of  exercise  in  the  open 
air;  and  that  if  it  involved  horseback-riding  it  would 
be  all  the  better  for  my  health,  and  probably  give 
me  more  years  in  which  to  labor.  I  accordingly  ac- 
cepted an  agency  from  the  American  Bible  Society, 
which  involved  the  exploration  on  horseback  of  the 
wild  regions  in  the  Southwest  described  in  this  vol- 
ume. In  addition  to  very  extended  travels  by  steam- 
In. at  up  and  down  many  of  the  larger  and  smaller 
Southwestern  and  Southern  rivers,  I  have  ridden  a 
great  many  thousand  miles  on  horseback — I  have  no 
means  of  telling  how  many.  For  a  long  time  I  rode 
my  horse  several  thousands  of  miles  yearly.  Bishop 
Kavenaugh,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
in  introducing  me,  as  an  agent  of  the  American 
Bible  Society,  to  a  Southwestern  conference  over  which 
he  was  presiding,  told  them  that,  "  although  a  Presby- 
terian," I  had  "  out-itinerated  the  Itineracy  itself." 

I   spent  a  night  with   the    Governor  of   a   South- 
western State,  at  the  house  of  his  sister,  who  was  the 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

wife  of  an  Episcopal  clergyman.  We  lodged  in  the 
same  room,  occupying  separate  beds,  as  was  very  com- 
mon in  that  region.  The  Governor  was  genial  and 
social,  and  we  conversed  until  long  after  midnight.  We 
talked  of  the  hills,  valleys,  and  mountains,  of  families 
and  communities,  of  the  customs,  manners,  and  pecu- 
liarities of  different  classes  of  people,  over  a  very  wide 
portion  of  the  State.  As  I  was  about  to  leave  in  the 
morning,  the  Governor  said  to  me : 

"  Sir,  you  know  more  about  this  State,  and  more 
people  in  it,  than  any  man  I  ever  saw." 

I  replied :  "  I  am  surprised,  Governor,  to  hear  you 
make  that  statement.  I  know  that  politicians  can- 
vass the  State  most  thoroughly ;  that  you  are  expected 
to  make  speeches  in  every  county,  and  in  as  many 
neighborhoods  as  possible ;  and  that  you  try  to  shake 
hands  with  as  many  as  you  can  of  those  that  you  ex- 
pect and  wish  to  vote  for  you.  As  you  were  born 
and  educated  in  the  State,  and  have  canvassed  it  so 
thoroughly  and  successfully,  I  supposed  that  you  knew 
a  great  deal  more  about  it,  and  a  great  many  more 
people  in  it,  than  I  do." 

"I  do  not,"  he  replied,  very  positively,  "and  I 
never  saw  a  man  in  my  life  who  did." 

I  state  these  facts  as  my  reason  and  justification  for 
writing  this  book;  that  my  readers  may  understand 
that  I  am  not  a  novice  in  regard  to  the  things  whereof 
I  write ;  that  I  know  whereof  I  affirm.  Indeed,  I  will 


»;  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

tdl  them  confidentially  that  I  have  obtained  a  "degree," 
one  not  so  easily  acquired  as  some  others,  and  more 
honored  in  the  wilds  of  the  country.  It  is  "  B.  B.," 
and  means  Brush-Breaker.  The  exposition  of  the  full 
meaning  of  this  "  degree  "  will  explain  the  origin  and 
meaning  of  my  title  to  this  book. 

In  attending  a  conference,  presbytery,  association, 
or  other  ecclesiastical  meeting  in  the  wilds  of  the  coun- 
try, as  the  old  veteran  and  other  preachers  were  pointed 
out  to  me  by  some  friend,  he  would  say : 

"That  is  Father  A .  He  is  an  old  Brush- 
Breaker^ — and  all  the  younger  men  would  press  for- 
ward to  shake  his  hand  and  do  him  honor ;  or,  "  That 

is  Brother  B .  He  has  broken  a  right  smart  chance 

of  brush " ;  or,  "  That  is  young  Brother  C ,  won- 
derfully self-satisfied  and  conceited,  as  you  see.  The 
sisters  have  flattered  him  so  much  that  he  has  got  the 
head1  badly.  He  will  be  sent  to  Brush  Col- 
lege, to  break  brush  a  year  or  two,  and  will  come  back 
humbled,  and  will  make  a  laborious  and  useful  man  " ; 
or,  "That  is  our  devoted  and  beloved  young  Brother 
— .  His  soul  is  all  on  fire  with  love  for  his  Master, 
and  he  will  thank  God  for  the  privilege  of  going  any- 
where in  the  Brush  to  preach  and  sing  of  Jesus  and 
his  salvation." 

This  use  of  the  word  Brush  enters  largely  into 
tin-  figures  of  speech  of  the  people  of  the  Southwest. 
On  one  occasion  I  heard  a  Methodist  bishop  preach  on 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

a  Sabbath  morning  to  a  very  large  congregation,  com- 
posed of  the  Conference,  the  people  of  the  village,  and 
the  visitors  in  attendance.  During  the  first  half  of  his 
sermon,  which  was  extemporaneous,  he  did  not  preach 
with  his  accustomed  clearness  and  power.  His  thoughts 
were  evidently  very  much  confused,  and  it  was  rather 
painful  than  otherwise  to  witness  his  struggle  to  get  the 
mastery  of  his  mind  and  subject.  But  he  accomplished 
this  at  length,  and  closed  his  sermon  with  great  power 
and  effect.  In  returning  from  church,  a  young  circuit- 
rider  said  to  me: 

"Didn't  you  think  the  Bishop  got  badly  brushed 
in  the  first  part  of  his  sermon?  I  sometimes  get  so 
brushed  in  my  sermons  that  I  think  I  will  never  try 
to  preach  again.  It's  a  comfort  to  a  beginner  to  know 
that  an  old  preacher  sometimes  gets  brushed." 

Figurative  language  of  this  kind  abounded  among 
the  people  of  the  Southwest,  and  was  very  expressive. 
These  provincialisms  had  usually  grown  out  of  the 
peculiar  life  and  habits  of  the  people.  Many  of  them 
seem  to  have  originated  in  the  perils  of  early  flat-boat 
navigation — when  they  were  accustomed  to  float  down- 
stream by  daylight,  and  tie  up  to  some  stump  or  tree 
for  the  night !  Woe  betide  the  cargo,  boat,  and  crew, 
if  that  to  which  they  had  "  made  fast "  failed  them  in 
the  darkness  of  the  night !  Hence,  as  I  suppose,  this 
provincialism. 

If  I  made  inquiries  in  regard  to  the  character  of  a 


g  AV   THE  BRUSH. 

man  who  had  been  recommended  to  me  for  a  Bible 
«li,tril)utor,  I  was  not  told  that  he  was  a  reliable  or  an 
unreliable  man,  but,  "  He'll  do  to  tie  to,"  or  "  He  won't 
do   to  tie  to";   and  if  the  case  was  particularly  bad, 
"  lie  won't  do  to  tie  to  in  a  calm,  let  alone  a  storm." 
As  there  were  so  many  perils  in  this  kind  of  naviga- 
tion, those  were  regarded  as  extremely  fortunate  who 
reached  their  destination  in  safety,  and  could  send  back 
word  that  they  had  made  the  trip;   hence,  "to  make 
the  trip"  was  a  universal  synonym  for  success.     And 
so,  when  a  novice  attempted  to  make  a  speech,  preach  a 
sermon,  address  a  jury,  or  engage  in  any  kind  of  busi- 
ness, the  people  predicted  his  success  or  failure  by  say- 
ing, "He'll  make  the  trip,"  or  "He  won't  make  the 
trip."     They  never  said   of  a  young  man,  or  an  old 
widower,  that  he  was  addressing  or  courting  a  lady,  but, 
"  He  is  setting  to  her,"  a  figure  of  speech  derived  from 
bird-hunting  with   setter-dogs,   as    I    suppose.      "When 
such  a  suit  had  been  unsuccessful,  they  did  not  say  the 
lady    rejected    or  "mittened"  her    suitor,  but,   "She 
kicked  him."     The  first  time  I  ever  heard  that  figure 
used  was  at  a  social  gathering  in  Richmond,  Virginia, 
in   1843,  where  the  belle  of  the  evening  was  a  Miss 
Burfoot.    After  being  introduced  to  her  by  a  friend, 
he  told  me  confidentially  that  she  had  recently  "  kicked  " 
Mr.  II ,  a  gentleman  present,  to  whom  he  had  al- 
ready introduced  me.     To  be   "kicked"  by  a  Bur-foot 
seemed    to  me  a    more  than  usually   striking   figure. 


INTRODUCTORY,  9 

When  many  persons  were  striving  for  the  same  object, 
or  where  there  were  rival  aspirants  for  the  heart. and 
hand  of  the  same  lady,  they  said  of  the  successful  one, 
"  The  tallest  pole  takes  the  persimmon." 

I  was  once  present  at  an  ecclesiastical  meeting  in 
the  Brush,  where  motions  of  different  kinds  were  piled 
upon  each  other,  until  the  greatest  confusion  prevailed 
as  to  the  state  of  the  question  before  the  body,  and 
the  moderator  was  appealed  to  to  give  his  decision  in 
the  matter.  I  did  not  fully  comprehend  his  decision, 
but  it  was  clear  and  satisfactory  to  the  body  over  which 
he  was  presiding,  all  of  whom,  like  himself,  were  old 
and  experienced  hunters.  Arising  to  his  feet,  as  be- 
came a  presiding  officer  thus  appealed  to,  and  lifting 
his  tall,  lank  form  until  his  head  was  among  the  rafters 
of  the  low  log  schoolhouse,  he  hesitated  a  moment, 
and  then  said,  "  Brethren,  my  decision  is  that  you  are 
all  ahead  of  the  hounds." 

These  are  but  specimens  of  the  figurative  language 
— the  provincialisms — that  abound  among  the  people 
of  the  Southwest. 

I  do  not,  therefore,  in  the  pages  that  follow,  speak 
of  my  travels  in  the  "  wilderness "  or  "  forests "  or 
"  hills  "  or  "  mountains "  of  the  Southwest,  but  adopt 
a  more  comprehensive  term,  universally  prevalent  in 
the  regions  explored,  and  describe  some  of  my  experi- 
ences in  the  Brush. 

Though  I   commenced  my  labors  in    the   South  as 


10  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

a  general  agent  and  superintendent  of  the  colpor- 
teur operations  of  the  American  Tract  Society  in  1843 
—ten  years  before  my  first  visit  to  the  Southwest— 
though  I  became  acquainted  with  its  home-life,  as  that 
life  could  only  be  learned,  by  such  extended  horse- 
back travels,  and  such  religious  labors,  prosecuted  with 
all  the  energy  and  all  the  enthusiasm  of  early  vigorous 
manhood,  I  shall  devote  this  volume  to  descriptions  of 
home-life  in  the  Southwest.  My  reasons  for  this  will 
be  obvious  and  approved  at  a  glance.  Very  little  that 
would  be  new  can  now  be  written  of  the  old-time  home- 
life  in  the  South.  The  fascinating  and  beautiful  de- 
scriptions of  Southern  soeial  life  given  us  in  the  let- 
ters of  Hon.  William  Wirt,  the  distinguished  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States,  in  his  "  British  Spy"  ;  the 
full  and  minute  biographies  of  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Patrick  Henry,  and  others,  so  exhaustive  of  every  feat- 
ure of  this  life;  with  the  matchless  descriptions  of 
the  inimitable  Thackeray,  and  other  later  writers,  leave 
vt-ry  little  to  be  said  in  illustration  of  this  theme..  But 
the  true,  the  real  old-time  social,  political,  and  religious 
home-life  of  the  people  of  the  Southwest  is  almost 
unknown  to  the  great  mass  of  the  American  people. 
Comparatively  little  has  been  written  which  is  the  re- 
sult of  extended  personal  contact  with,  and  intimate 
personal  knowledge  of,  the  people.  They  have  been 
largely  the  subjects  of  exaggeration  and  caricature. 
In  this  field  I  have  garnered  many  rich  and  golden 


INTRODUCTORY.  11 

sheaves,  where  no  other  reaper  had  ever  thrust  in  the 
sickle.  Here  I  have  drawn  word-pictures  of  many 
scenes  in  the  social  life  of  a  generation,  and  a  state 
of  civilization,  rapidly  passing  away,  never  to  reappear, 
that  otherwise  would  have  had  no  memorial  only 
as  perpetuated  in  the  traditions  of  the  people.  I 
will  only  add  that  I  am  indebted  to  no  library,  to  no 
book,  not  even  to  a  newspaper,  for  a  single  fact  pre- 
sented in  this  volume.  They  were  all  gathered  inci- 
dentally while  laboriously  engaged  in  the  duties  of  my 
profession,  as  a  general  agent  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  and  while  traveling  for  years  in  the  interests 
of  the  college  over  which  I  was  called  to  preside.  They 
all  relate  to  the  ante-bellum  period  in  the  history  of 
our  country. 


CHAPTER  II. 

MY   OUTFIT   FOR  MT   LIFE   IN   THE  BRUSH. 

HAVING   received  my  commission   as  an  agent   for 
the  American  Bible  Society,  and  completed  my  prepara- 
tions for  entering  upon  my  work  as  far  as  I  could  do 
so  in  New  York,  I  left  that  city  for  one  of  the  im- 
portant cities  of  the  Southwest,  which  was   to  be  my 
headquarters.     I  knew  at  the  outset  that  I  could  not 
reach  the  wild  regions  I  was  to  explore  by  railroad, 
steamboat,  stage,  or  even  with  my  own  private  convey- 
ance ;  I  knew  that  I  could  climb  hills  and  mountains, 
follow    blind    bridle-paths,    ford    rivers    and    swollen 
streams,   only  on  horseback.    I  had  several  years  be- 
fore had  some  two  years'  experience  in  constant  horse- 
back travel  in  labors  similar  to  those  I  was  now  enter- 
ing upon,  as  superintendent  of  the  colporteur  opera- 
tions of  the  American  Tract  Society  in  Yirginia.     There 
I  had  floundered  in  the  marshes  and  swamps  of  "Tide- 
water," and  been  lost  amid  the  rugged  rocks  and  dense 
forests  high  up  the  sides  and  in  the  loftiest  summits  of 
the  Blue  Ridge  and  other  mountains.     I  knew  that  I 


MY  OUTFIT  FOR  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.     13 

must  have  a  horse.  This  was  indispensable.  More  than 
that,  I  wanted  a  good  horse,  a  horse  broken  expressly 
for  the  saddle.  To  be  churned  for  years — bump, 
bump,  bump — upon  a  hard-trotting  horse,  that  was 
out  of  the  question  with  me.  I  had  but  a  small  stock 
of  health  and  physical  strength  at  best,  and  none  to 
spare  in  that  way.  My  old  friend  Rev.  Dr.  Sprole, 
then  of  "Washington,  D.  C.,  afterward  of  West  Point, 
New  York,  and  now  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  used  to 
tell  me,  in  Washington,  that  "Brother  Leete,"  one  of 
my  co-workers  in  the  circulation  of  the  publications  of 
the  American  Tract  Society,  "was  one  of  the  most 
self-denying  Christians  he  had  ever  seen — in  that  he 
had  patience  to  drive  such  a  miserable  old  horse  in 
transporting  his  books  over  the  hills  and  mountains  of 
Pennsylvania,"  where  he  had  known  him.  But  I  was 
not  anxious  to  illustrate  that  particular  type  of  piety. 
I  did  not  care  to  let  my  "light  so  shine."  I  wanted 
not  only  a  good  saddle-horse,  but  a  faithful,  reliable 
animal.  I  wanted  one  that  I  could  hitch  to  the 
limb  of  a  tree,  in  the  midst  o^  scores  or  hundreds  of 
other  horses,  and  leave  there  without  any  concern,  while 
I  preached  in  a  log  meeting-house,  or  at  a  "stand" 
erected  in  a  grove  at  some  cross-roads,  or  at  a  camp- 
meeting,  or  wherever  else  I  should  be  able  to  meet  and 
address  the  people.  I  wanted  a  hardy  horse,  that 
could  live  on  the  coarsest  food,  and  stand  during  the 
coldest  nights  in  log  stables  that  afforded  but  a  little 


14  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

more  protection  from  the  wind  and  cold  than  a  rail 
fence.  I  wanted  an  easy-going,  fleet  horse,  that  would 
take  me,  without  great  personal  fatigue  or  needless 
waste  of  time,  over  a  wide  extent  of  country.  I 
wanted  a  horse  that  would  scare  at  nothing— that, 
as  I  had  opportunity,  I  could  lead  up  a  plank  or 
two,  on  board  a  noisy  stern-wheel  or  other  Western 
steamer,  along  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  across  wharf- 
boats,  or  wherever  I  might  wish  to  embark  for  a 
hundred  miles  or  more  to  save  a  few  days  of  horse- 
back travel. 

The  "qualities"  that  I  looked  for  in  a  horse  were 
numerous  and  rare.  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to  find  one 
that  possessed  all  that  I  have  enumerated  and  many 
more.  Was  I  not  fortunate  ?  Was  I  wrong  in  regard- 
ing my  good  fortune  as  a  special  providence?  But  I 
did  not  easily  find  this  treasure.  It  was  after  a  long 
search  and  many  failures.  Unable  to  find  such  a  horse 
as  I  was  willing  to  purchase  at  once,  I  determined  to 
enter  upon  my  work  and  get  along  for  a  time  as  best 
I  could. 

I  therefore  took  stage  for  a  point  about  fifty  miles 
from  headquarters,  where,  after  a  conference  with  the 
officers  of  the  County  Bible  Society,  I  procured  a 
horse  for  several  days  in  order  to  plunge  into  the 
Brush,  make  a  circuit  of  the  county,  and  preach  at  a 
number  of  places  in  accordance  with  a  programme  that 
their  familiarity  with  the  country  enabled  them  to 


MY  OUTFIT  FOR  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.     15 

make  out  for  me.  They  arranged  to  send  my  appoint- 
ments ahead  to  all  these  points  but  one,  where  I  was 
to  preach  the  next  day,  which  was  the  Sabbath. 

I  will  here  state  that  the  great  object  of  my  mis- 
sion to  the  Brush  was  to  eifect  a  thorough  exploration 
of  the  field  assigned  to  me,  and,  either  by  sale  or  gift, 
supply  every  family  with  a  copy  of  the  Bible,  except 
such  as  positively  declined  to  receive  it.  To  accom- 
plish this,  I  wished  to  gain  personal  knowledge  of 
each  county,  to  preach  at  as  many  points  as  possible, 
in  order  to  give  information  in  regard  to  the  character 
and  operations  of  the  American  Bible  Society  and  the 
work  to  be  done,  collect  as  much  money  as  possible 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  this  work,  find  and  employ 
suitable  men  to  canvass  the  counties  and  visit  with- 
out fail  every  family,  and  then  order  a  supply  of  Bi- 
bles and  Testaments  from  the  Society's  house  in  New 
York,  give  them  their  instructions,  and  set  them  at 
work.  Such  was  my  mission. 

Saturday,  after  dinner,  I  mounted  my  horse  for  a 
ride  of  thirteen  miles  to  a  small  county-seat  village 
where  I  was  to  spend  the  Sabbath.  The  country  was 
rough  and  broken,  with  light,  sandy  soil,  sparsely  cov- 
ered with  small,  scrubby  oak-trees,  called  "  black-jacks," 
and  the  region  of  country  was  known  as  the  "  Barrens." 
It  was  barren  enough.  The  houses  were  mostly  poor 
and  comfortless,  the  barns  small  log  structures,  with 
no  stables,  sheds,  or  covering  of  any  kind  .for  the  cat- 


j,;  IN  THE.  BRUSH. 

tie.  They  were  poor  and  scrawny,  and  their  backs 
described  a  section  of  a  semicircle  as  they  drew  them- 
selves into  as  much  of  a  heap  as  possible— their  only 
protection  against  the  bleak  February  winds.  The 
swine  were  of  the  original  "  root-hog-or-die "  variety, 
their  long,  well-developed  snouts  being  their  most 
prominent  feature.  Occasionally  black,  dirty,  ragged 
slaves— "  uncles,"  "aunties,"  and  their  children— re- 
vealed the  whites  of  their  eyes  and  their  shining  ivory 
as  they  stared  earnestly  at  the  rare  sight  of  a  passing 
stranger.  No  one,  with  the  kindest  heart  and  the 
most  amiable  disposition,  would  be  able  to  pronounce 
the  country  attractive  or  the  ride  a  pleasant  one.  On 
arriving  at  the  village,  I  rode  to  a  very  plain  house  to 
which  I  had  been  directed,  and  received  a  most  warm 
and  cordial  welcome.  Large  pine-knots  were  soon  blaz- 
ing and  roaring  in  the  ample  fireplace  to  relieve  me  of 
the  most  wretchedly  disagreeable  of  all  sensations  of 
cold — those  of  a  damp,  clammy,  chilly  winter  day  in  the 
Southwest.  As  soon  as  it  could  possibly  be  prepared, 
I  was  seated  with  the  family  at  a  bountiful  supper. 
The  ^roma  of  the  richest  coffee  was  afloat  in  the  air, 
and  the  rarest  of  fried  chicken  and  hot  corn-bread 
were  smoking  before  me,  flanked  with  a  superabun- 
dance of  other  dishes,  that  showed  the  perfect  country 
housekeeper. 

My  host  and  hostess  were  Presbyterians,  and   this 
was  the  reception  they  gladly  gave  to   any   minister 


MY  OUTFIT  FOR  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.     17 

who  visited  them  in  their  seclusion,  and  preached  for 
their  little  church.  The  bell  was  rung,  and  I  preached 
that  (Saturday)  night  to  a  very  small  audience  who  as- 
sembled at  this  brief  notice.  The  church  stood  within 
a  very  few  rods  of  the  spot  where  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  born. 

On  Sabbath  morning  a  somewhat  larger  congrega- 
tion assembled  from  the  village  and  country  around, 
including  some  from  the  homes  I  had  passed  the  day 
before,  and  I  made  a  full  exposition  of  the  character 
and  operations  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  ex- 
plained the  work  about  to  be  undertaken  in  their  own 
county,  and  made  as  urgent  and  eloquent  an  appeal 
as  I  was  able  to,  for  funds  to  supply  their  own  poor 
with  the  Bible,  and  meet  the  expenses  of  this  benevo- 
lent and  Christian  work.  To  adopt  the  language  uni- 
versal in  all  this  region,  they  "  lifted  a  collection "  for 
me  which  amounted  to  six  dollars  and  eighty-five  cents. 
At  3  P.  M.  I  heard  a  sermon  preached  by  the  clergyman, 
my  kind  friend  and  host  at  the  other  county-seat, 
who,  according  to  arrangement,  came  over  to  spend 
the  Sabbath  with  me,  and  fill  a  regular  appointment. 
At  night  I  preached  for  them  again.  Altogether  it 
was  to  me  a  very  pleasant  day. 

Monday  morning  I  rode  back  to  the  county-seat. 
There  was  a  hard  rain-storm,  and  I  got  very  wet. 
Tuesday  morning  I  started  on  a  preaching  tour  of 
several  days,  to  fulfill  the  appointments  that  had  been 


18 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


made  for  me.  I  traveled  several  miles  to  see  an  old 
man  who  had  been  recommended  for  a  colporteur  to 
canvass  the  county;  was  pleased  with  him,  and  he 
was  afterward  employed.  After  dinner  he  piloted  me 
through  rough,  broken  barrens,  such  as  I  have  already 
described,  to  the  place  where  I  was  to  preach  that 
night.  We  reached  there,  but  my  "appointment"  had 
not.  I  did  not  wonder  it  had  lost  its  way.  I  lost 
mine  a  good  many  times  that  week.  However,  we 
learned  that  the  next  day  was  the  regular  appointment 
for  the  Methodist  preacher  who  rode  that  circuit,  and 
I  would  then  have  an  opportunity  to  address  the  peo- 
ple. We  spent  the  night  very  comfortably  with 

Brother  H ,  to   whom  I  had  been  directed,   who 

belonged  to  the  class  of  farmers  or  planters  known 
among  these  people  as  "  not  rich,  but  good  livers." 
In  other  portions  of  the  country  he  would  have  been 
spoken  of  as  a  man  "  in  comfortable  circumstances." 
Wednesday  morning  we  rode  to  a  small  Methodist 
chapel  bearing  the  name  of  my  host.  His  house  had 
for  years  been  the  home  where  laborious  and  self- 
denying  itinerant  preachers,  often  hungry,  wet,  and 
weary,  had  found  most  welcome  and  needed  refresh- 
ment and  rest.  A  kind  Providence  has  dotted  the 
wilds  of  the  country  with  many  such  hospitable  homes 
—I  have  often  found  them  and  enjoyed  their  cheer — 
whose  owners,  more  rich  in  generous,  noble  impulses 
than  in  worldly  goods,  have  thus  laid  up  treasures  in 


MY  OUTFIT  FOR  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.      19 

heaven,  the  exceeding  riches  and  abundance  of  which 
they  will  only  fully  comprehend  and  enjoy  when  they 
hear  the  approving — "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me."  On  'arriving  at  the  chapel,  which 
was  a  small,  unplastered  frame  building,  I  was  intro- 
duced by  my  host  to  Brother  M ,  the  "  preacher 

in  charge,"  and  received  from  him  an  old  itinerant's 
cordial  shake  of  the  hand  and  welcome  to  his  circuit. 
After  a  few  moments'  conversation  he  thrust  his  arm 
into  mine,  as  though  we  had  been  acquainted  for  years, 
and  we  strolled  off  among  the  black-jacks  to  await  the 
arrival  of  the  congregation. 

"What  church  do  you  belong  to,  Brother  P ?" 

said  he. 

"  I  am  a  Presbyterian,  sir,"  I  responded. 

"  I  am  glad  to  hear  it,  glad  to  hear  it,"  said  he. 

"Brother  Y ,  the  last  agent  of  the  Bible  Society, 

was  a  Methodist,  and  we've  had  Methodist  agents  a 
good  while.  I  am  glad  there  is  a  change.  I  heard 
there  would  be,  at  Conference.  All  our  brethren  will 
be  glad  to  see  and  welcome  you." 

As  Brother  M was  the  first  real  itinerant  that 

I  met  on  his  circuit  deep  in  the  Brush,  I  will  present 
him  a  little  more  fully  to  my  readers.  He  wore  on 
his  head,  drawn  well  down  over  his  ears  and  eyes,  a 
cheap  cloth  cap,  badly  soiled  and  faded.  I  do  not  now 
recall  the  color  of  his  coat.  I  remember  that  it  was  of 


20  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

coarse  material  and  ragged,  with  a  particularly  large 
rent  under  one  of  the  armholes.  His  pantaloons  were 
genuine  butternut-colored  jeans.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
the  cloth  was  the  gift  of  some  good  sister,  woven  in 
her  own  loom,  and  all  that  she  was  able  to  give  in 
making  up  his  scanty  salary.  The  most  of  the  audi- 
ence, both  men  and  women,  were  clothed  in  the  same 
home-made  material.  For  myself,  I  was  dressed  in 
all  respects  as  I  had  been  the  last  time  I  had  preached 
in  New  York.  I  did  not  like  the  contrast  between 
myself  and  the  congregation ;  and  on  my  return  to  the 
city  I  laid  aside  my  entire  black  suit,  and  procured 
a  second-hand  snuff-colored  overcoat,  costing  eight  dol- 
lars, jean  pantaloons,  and  a  soft  hat,  in  which  I  felt 
much  more  at  ease  on  my  next  return  to  the  Brush. 
To  anticipate  a  little,  I  will  say  that  in  my  desire  to 
carry  out  the  Pauline  example  in  becoming  all  things 
to  all  men,  I  went  a  little  too  far;  for  I  wore  my 
Brush  suit  to  Conference,  where  I  met  this  same 
preacher,  and  scores  of  his  brethren  with  whom  I 
had  become  acquainted,  dressed  in  black,  and  present- 
ing a  contrast  quite  to  my  disadvantage.  I  had,  how- 
ever, gone  there  on  horseback,  traveling  and  preaching 
through  the  wildest  brush  country,  with  only  such 
changes  of  clothing  as  I  could  carry  in  my  saddle- 
bags. If  I  was  a  little  mortified  at  my  personal  appear- 
ance when  the  presiding  elder  introduced  me  to  the 
venerable  bishop,  and  he  introduced  me  to  the  Con- 


MY  OUTFIT  FOR  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.     21 

ference,  and  they  all  arose  to  their  feet  to  do  me 
honor,  and  welcome  me  as  the  representative  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  I  had  at  least  this  satisfac- 
tion, that  with  the  large  audience  present  my  dress 
would  do  something  to  correct  the  popular  impression, 
very  widely  prevalent  in  the  Brush,  that  "  Presbyte- 
rian ministers  preach  for  good  clothes." 

One  by  one  the  small  congregation  arrived  at  the 
chapel  —  men,  women,  and  children  —  on  horseback. 
When  they  had  all  assembled,  we  went  in,  and  I 
preached,  and  they  "lifted  a  collection"  amounting  to 
three  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents.  After  dining  with 

Brother  M ,   at  a  house  near  by,  I   mounted  my 

horse  for  a  long  ride,  to  reach  my  appointment  for  the 
night.  My  kind  friends  gave  me  a  great  many  direc- 
tions, and  I  started  out.  There  was  nothing  worthy 
of  the  name  of  a  public  road.  There  were  wagon- 
tracks  and  paths  running  in  all  directions  among  the 
black-jacks,  and  crossing  each  other  at  all  angles. 
Whenever,  for  a  short  distance,  there  was  a  fence  on 
both  sides  of  a  road,  that  was  called  a  "lane."  One 
track  would  lead  me  to  the  back  side  of  a  tobacco- 
patch,  where  it  ended ;  another  led  me  where  some 
rails  had  been  "  mauled "  and  recently  hauled  away. 
The  roads  leading  to  plantations  were  more  worn,  and 
looked  more  like  the  "  main  traveled  road,"  than  those 
that  were  intended  for  public  highways.  I  inquired 

my  way  at   each  plantation   that  I  passed,  and   every 
2 


22  IN  TUE  BRUSH. 

other  opportunity ;  and  these  were  far  too  rare  for  my 
wants.  Once  I  saw,  from  an  elevation,  a  peach-tree 
in  bloom  in  the  distance.  It  was  like  the  human  foot- 
print in  the  sand  to  Robinson  Crusoe  on  his  lonely 
island.  I  said,  "  There  is  a  sign  of  humanity,"  and  start- 
ed for  it.  But  when  I  reached  it  the  log-cabin  near 
which  it  was  planted  was  empty,  and  I  started  out 
again  into  the  labyrinths  of  paths.  Often  that  after- 
noon, and  oftener  in  the  years  that  followed,  when  I 
have  been  lost  in  the  Brush,  I  exclaimed,  "  Blessed  be 
the  man  that  devised  our  national  system  of  '  sectional 
surveys'!"  I  do  not  know  what  man  or  men  devised 
it,  but  I  do  know  that  the  country  owes  him  or  them 
a  debt  of  gratitude  it  can  never  pay.  Where  section- 
lines  are  established,  there  roads  are  located,  roads  run- 
ning at  right  angles,  and  school-districts,  townships, 
and  larger  communities  have  definite  boundaries;  and 
every  neighborhood  and  farm  may  have  the  benefit  of 
established  and  good  roads.  These  barrens,  like  vast 
regions  of  country  over  which  I  have  traveled,  never 
had  the  benefit  of  such  a  survey.  The  original  settlers 
had  found  places  where  the  land,  timber,  water,  etc., 
suited  them,  .and  had  measured  off,  perhaps  with  a 
pole  or  grape-vine,  hundreds  or  thousands  of  acres  in 
any  shape  their  fancy  directed— their  surveys  often 
overlapping  each  other  at  various  points.  Hence  in- 
terminable lawsuits  in  regard  to  boundaries,  and  the 
greater  calamity  of  having  no  established  lines  for  a 


MY  OUTFIT  FOB  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.      23 

uniform  system  of  roads.  A  learned  author  has  said, 
"  You  may  judge  the  civilization  of  a  country  by  its 
roads."  If  this  is  a  true  criterion,  there  is  a  vast  ex- 
tent of  country  over  which  I  have  traveled,  in  the 
Southwest  and  South,  that  will  take  a  very  low  rank 
in  the  scale  of  civilization.  I  remember  one  man  in 
the  Brush  who  told  me  he  had  raised  that  year  three 
hogsheads  of  tobacco,  but  the  roads  were  so  bad  that 
the  transportation  of  his  crop,  sixty  miles  to  market, 
had  cost  him  one  hogshead  of  tobacco — one  third  of 
the  proceeds  of  his  summer's  work !  One  of  the 
most  prominent  causes  of  the  development  and  growth 
of  our  "Western  States  is  the  manner  in  which  they 
were  surveyed,  and  their  system  of  roads ;  one  of  the 
greatest  hindrances  to  the  prosperity  of  other  and  large 
sections  of  our  country  is  that  they  have  had  no  such 
survey,  and  are  not  likely  to  have  any  such  roads. 

I  reached  the  house  of  Mr.  B, ,  to  whom  I  was 

directed,  soon  after  sundown,  and  learned  that  my  ap- 
pointment had  reached  him,  and  he  was  expecting  me. 
He  at  once  gave  orders  to  his  boys  to  get  the  shell- 
bark-hickory  torches  that  they  had  provided  to  light  us 
home,  and  without  dismounting  he  led  my  way,  on 
foot,  about  a  mile,  to  an  unpainted,  unplastered,  barn- 
like-looking  building,  known  as  "Blue  Knobs  Church." 
A  few  tallow-candles  shed  their  glimmering  rays  upon 
the  upturned  faces  of  the  not  large  audience  that 
listened  to  my  description  of  the  Bible  House,  its  nu- 


24  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

merous  presses,  and  vast  facilities  for  publishing  the 
Bible ;  and,  in  response  to  my  appeal  for  funds  for  the 
noble  cause  I  represented,  they  "lifted  a  collection" 
amounting  to  ninety-four  cents.  In  the  light  of  the 
torches  thoughtfully  provided  for  me,  I  climbed  up 
the  sides  of  the  knob — the  higher  elevations  of  land 
in  this  region  are  called  "knobs" — to  the  home  of 
my  host.  Supper  was  now  prepared  for  the  family 
and  myself;  and  I  learned  that  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  people  to  defer  supper  until  this  hour,  when- 
ever they  had  meetings  at  night. 

Fairly  seated  in  the  house,  I  saw  such  a  group  of 
little  children  as  I  had  never  seen  before,  belonging  to 
one  family.  We  had  not  talked  long  before  the  father 
volunteered  an  explanation.  He  told  me  his  wife  had 
died,  leaving  nine  children,  one  but  a  few  days  old. 
Not  many  months  after,  he  had  married  a  young  widow 
with  three  children,  as  young  as  his  three  youngest, 
and  one  had  been  born  since  their  marriage.  Of  the 
thirteen  present,  the  majority  were  under  five  years 
old.  Subsequently,  in  my  travels,  I  spent  a  night  with 
a  family  where  there  was  a  large  number  of  young 
children,  and  I  asked  the  mother  the  age  of  the  eldest 
and  the  youngest.  The  eldest  would  be  six  years  old 
the  next  June;  the  youngest  was  six  weeks  old.  She 
had  six  healthy  children,  that  had  been  born  in  less 
than  six  years,  and  none  of  them  were  twins. 

On  Thursday  I  started  early  in  the  morning  and 


MY  OUTFIT  FOE  MY  LIFE  IN  TEE  BRUSH.     25 

rode  through  a  country  that  differed  but  little  from 
that  through  which  I  had  passed  the  day  before,  to 
the  place  of  my  appointment.  On  going  to  the  hall 
of  the  secret  society,  where  I  was  to  preach,  I  learned 
that  it  was  the  night  of  their  regular  weekly  meeting, 
and  they  could  not  yield  their  room  to  me.  Such  col- 
lisions are  not  unfrequent  in  the  Brush,  and  the  peo- 
ple describe  them  by  a  very  striking  figure  of  speech, 
which  gives  some  idea  of  their  sports  and  tastes. 
They  say  of  them  that  "  the  appointments  locked 
horns."  I  did  not  care  to  test  the  strength  of  my 
neck,  and  therefore,  as  was  altogether  proper  in  the 
circumstances,  did  not  preach.  That  night  I  slept  in 
the  loft  of  a  log-cabin.  It  was  entirely  unceiled,  and 
the  roof  was  so  low  that  I  had  to  stoop  to  make  my 
way  to  my  bed;  and  when  in  it  I  could  easily  place 
my  hands  upon  the  roof-boards  and  rafters.  The 
openings  between  the  logs  afforded  abundant  ventila- 
tion. In  the  morning,  I  found  such  conveniences  as 
were  afforded  for  washing,  not  in  my  room,  but  out- 
of-doors,  at  the  side  of  the  well.  Afterward,  I  slept 
in  hundreds  of  such  cabin-lofts — slept  in  them  until 
the  sight  of  smoky,  dingy  roof-boards  and  rafters  was 
wellnigh  as  familiar  a  sight  on  opening  my  eyes  in 
the  morning,  as  the  sky  overhead  when  I  went  to  the 
well  to  wash,  sometimes  in  a  basin  or  dish,  but  often 
by  having  the  water  poured  upon  my  hands  from  a 
gourd.  I  remember  one  occasion  when,  after  traveling 


26 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


for  weeks  in  the  Brush,  I  arrived  at  a  small  county- 
seat  village,  and  spent  the  night  in  a  new  building 
that  had  recently  been  erected  for  a  young  ladies'  sem- 
inary. In  the  morning,  as  I  opened  my  eyes,  they 
were  greeted  with  the  sight  of  new  white-plastered 
walls  above  and  around  me.  The  sight  was  so  rare 
that  it  thrilled  me  with  joy.  The  smooth,  clean  plas- 
ter seemed  absolutely  beautiful.  I  have  never  since 
experienced  more  delightful  sensations  in  gazing  upon 
the  most  magnificent  paintings.  I  can  see  now  the 
new,  cheap  bedstead,  the  clean  sheets,  the  blue-calico 
window-curtains,  the  white  walls,  and  recall  the  sen- 
sations of  intense  pleasure  that  they  inspired.  It  was 
as  if  I  had  slept  for  weeks  in  a  dungeon,  and  awroke 
in  the  most  delightful  home. 

On  Friday  morning  I  started  early  again,  and  by 
a  most  difficult  and  crooked  route  through  the  "bar- 
rens," made  my  way  to  the  residence  of  "Uncle  Billy 

H ,"  to  whose  hospitality  I  had  been  commended. 

Here  I  found  a  brick  house  on  a  turnpike-road,  and 
"  Uncle  Billy "  was  a  "  good  liver."  He  went  with 
me  at  night  to  a  small  church,  located  upon  a  stream, 
near  a  grist-mill,  and  I  preached,  and  "lifted  a  collec- 
tion "  amounting  to  four  dollars  and  five  cents. 

On  Saturday  morning,  my  appointments  for  the 
week  being  all  fulfilled,  I  took  the  turnpike  and 
started  for  the  county-seat.  I  was  never  so  grateful  for 
a  good  road,  and  never  so  willing  and  glad  to  pay  toll. 


MY  OUTFIT  FOR  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.     27 

At  various  points  along  the  "pike,"  as  it  was  uni- 
versally called,  I  saw  tracks  leading  off  into  the  woods, 
and  was  told  that  they  were  known  as  "  shunpikes," 
and  that  some  people  in  traveling  would  take  these 
and  go  through  the  woods  around  the  toll-gates,  in 
order  to  avoid  paying  toll.  I  had  not  the  slightest  dis- 
position to  perpetrate  that  immorality  and  meanness. 
I  stuck  to  the  pike  as  one  would  to  an  old  friend  and 
guide,  after  having  been  bewildered  and  lost  in  the 
most  perilous  ways.  It  was  comfortable  not  to  be  ask- 
ing and  getting  "directions"  that  were  a  good  deal 
more  incomprehensible  and  past  finding  out  than  the 
blind  roads  and  paths  I  was  trying  to  follow.  I  was 
most  happy  to  be  freed  from  the  disagreeable  feelings 
of  uncertainty  and  anxiety  as  to  whether  or  not  I  was 
in  the  right  road  or  path,  and  was  making  progress 
in  the  right  direction,  or  I  should  be  obliged  to  re- 
trace my  steps.  As  I  rode  on  thus,  dark  clouds  rolled 
up  the  sky  and  it  began  to  rain.  I  unstrapped  my 
umbrella  from  my  saddle,  and,  as  I  spread  it,  my 
horse,  that  had  seemed  as  gentle  as  any  horse  could 
be,  shot  from  under  me  with  a  movement  so  sud- 
den and  swift,  that  I  struck  but  once  on  his  rump, 
rolled  off  behind  him,  and  he  went  tearing  into  the 
woods  at  the  side  of  the  "  pike."  I  never  could  un- 
derstand how  my  feet  were  disentangled  from  the  stir- 
nips,  and  how  I  fell  upon  the  hard  turnpike-road 
without  being  hurt  at  all.  But  I  know  that  that  kind 


28  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

Protector  was  with  me  who  has  preserved  me  through 
so  many  years  of  travel  upon  oceans,  lakes,  rivers, 
;ind  during  unnumbered  thousands  of  miles  of  travel  by 
railroad,  stage,  and  on  horseback,  over  the  roughest 
and  wildot  portions  of  the  land,  without  ever  suffer- 
ing a  more  serious  accident  than  this.  I  followed  my 
horse  into  the  woods,  but  could  not  find  him,  and 
walked  about  four  miles  to  the  village  in  the  rain. 

After  dinner,  my  kind  clerical  friend  and  host 
rode  with  me  several  miles  to  find  my  horse,  and  my 
saddle-bags  that  he  had  carried  into  the  woods  with 
him,  but  our  search  was  in  vain.  At  night,  after  our 
return,  a  black  boy — a  slave — who  had  found  my  horse 
in  the  woods,  brought  him  to  me,  and  received  his  re- 
ward. The  saddle-bags  I  never  found.  More  than  all 
else  I  regretted  the  loss  of  my  small  Bible,  that  had 
Wn  my  constant  companion  during  all  my  school- 
days, and  in  all  my  travels  by  sea  and  by  land  for 
many  years  before. 

Sunday  was  a  cold,  rainy,  cheerless  day.  I  preached 
to  a  very  small  congregation  that  assembled  in  the 
morning,  and  "lifted  a  collection"  amounting  to  nine 
dollars  and  five  cents.  In  the  afternoon  and  at  nio-ht 

O 

it  rained  so  hard  that  there  were  no  public  services. 

Monday,  I  spent  the  forenoon  with  the  officers  of 
the  county  Ril.le  Society,  instructing  them  in  their 
duties  and  aiding  them  in  writing  their  reports.  In 
the  afternoon  I  attended  a  funeral  that  was  less  like  a 


MY  OUTFIT  FOB  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.     20 

funeral  than  any  I  had  ever  witnessed,  and  seemed 
more  strange  to  me  than  anything  I  had  yet  seen. 
The  clergyman  invited  me  to  go  with  him  to  the  grave- 
yard, where  he  had  engaged  to  be  present  at  the  burial. 
The  funeral  party  was  from  the  country.  The  coffin 
was  conveyed  in  a  large  farm-wagon  drawn  by  six 
mules.  The  mud  was  very  deep  and  very  red.  The 
family  and  neighbors  followed  on  horseback,  a  strag- 
gling company,  attempting  to  maintain  no  semblance 
of  a  procession  or  any  kind  of  order.  The  women  were 
dressed  as  I  have  since  seen  thousands  of  Brush-women 
dressed.  They  had  long  riding-skirts  made  of  coarse 
cotton-factory  cloth,  dyed  the  inevitable  butternut-color. 
Their  bonnets  were  of  the  simplest  possible  construc- 
tion, made  of  any  kind  of  calico,  stiffened  and  bent  over 
the  top  of  the  head  in  such  form  as  to  protect  the 
neck,  and  project  a  long  distance  beyond  the  face,  and 
usually  called  "  sun-bonnets."  The  company  all  rode 
as  near  the  grave  as  they  conveniently  could,  and 
with  the  exception  of  those  who  officiated  in  lowering 
the  coffin  into  the  grave,  they  all  sat  upon  their 
horses  while  the  clergyman  performed  his  brief  relig- 
ious services.  There  were  no  sable  mourning-weeds. 
The  contrast  in  colors  and  dress  from  those  usually 
seen  at  a  funeral,  as  well  as  in  all  the  forms  generally 
observed  on  such  an  occasion,  impressed  me  very 
strangely.  On  another  occasion  I  attended  a  funeral 
where  the  company  followed  after  the  corpse  in  the 


30 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


same  straggling  manner,  though  the  most  of  them 
were  on  foot,  and  on  their  way  to  the  graveyard  they 
climbed  the  fences  and  went  across-lots  by  a  shorter 
route,  leaving  the  hearse  to  go  around  the  road,  and 
they  were  at  the  grave  to  receive  and  bury  the  corpse 
when  the  hearse  arrived.  This  was  not  from  any 
want  of  respect,  for  the  person  buried  was  a  college 
graduate  and  lawyer.  It  was  simply  their  way  of 
doing  things. 

On  Tuesday,  having  completed  all  my  arrange- 
ments for  the  exploration  and  supply  of  the  county 
with  Bibles,  I  took  stage  and  returned  to  headquar- 
ters. As  from  time  to  time  I  received  the  reports  of 
the  Bible-distributor,  and  learned  of  the  amount  sold, 
and  of  the  large  number  of  families  destitute  who 
gladly  received  as  a  gift  this  inestimable  treasure,  I 
felt  that  in  all  my  toils  and  personal  privations  in  thus 
exploring  the  Brush,  I  had  not  labored  in  vain  nor 
hpi-nt  my  strength  for  naught.  In  the  great  day,  when 
all  the  good  results  of  these  labors  shall  be  revealed,  I 
know  that  there  will  be  no  cause  for  regret,  but  much 
for  joy. 

I  was  now  better  prepared  than  ever  before  to  un- 
derstand just  what  I  needed  and  all  that  I  needed 
to  complete  my  outfit  for  the  Brush.  My  experience 
in  horseback-riding  had  been  particularly  instructive 
on  this  subject.  After  somewhat  extended  but  fruit- 
less search  and  inquiry  for  a  horse,  such  as  I  needed 


MY  OUTFIT  FOR  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.     31 

in  that  vicinity,  I  took  steamer  for  a  great  horse- 
market  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant.  Here  I 
found  great  droves  of  horses,  in  vast  stables,  attended 
by  scores  of  jockeys,  all  wide  awake  and  eager  to 
show  me  the  very  article  that  I  wanted.  I  went  from 
stable  to  stable,  looked  at  a  good  many,  heard  the 
most  satisfactory  statements  from  their  voluble  owners 
in  regard  to  the  qualities  of  those  that  were  brought 
out  and  submitted  to  my  special  inspection,  mounted 
some  of-  them  and  rode  a  short  distance  to  test'  their 
qualities,  but  did  not  purchase.  Indeed,  I  became  en- 
tirely satisfied  that  I  was  not  as  verdant  in  regard  to 
horse-flesh  as  from  my  pale  looks  and  clerical  appear- 
ance they  generally  took  me  to  be.  Though  a  clergy- 
man, and  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  my  father  had 
penetrated  the  wilderness  of  Western  New  York,  pur- 
chased a  farm,  and  erected  his  log-cabin  west  of  the 
Genesee  River  in  1807,  when  there  was  but  a  single 
log-house  where  Rochester  now  stands.  Hence,  from 
my  childhood  I  had  enjoyed  the  invaluable  advan- 
tages of  farm-life  and  labors.  I  had  ridden  colts, 
driven  and  worked  horses,  and  learned  what  is  hardly 
worth  less  in  the  future  battle  of  life  than  all  that  is 
acquired  in  college  and  professional  schools. 

While  looking  through  these  large  stables  I  heard 
of  a  horse  that  had  been  sent  to  a  stable  to  be  sold 
on  account  of  some  changes  in  the  family  of  the 
owner.  I  went  and  looked  at  her,  and  was  greatly 


32  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

pleased.     I  mounted  her,   rode   a  few  miles,   and  re- 
turned perfectly  satisfied  and   delighted.     In    a  short 
time  I  paid  the  price  asked,  and  was  her  happy  owner. 
It  was  love  at  first  sight,  love   that  never  failed,  but 
grew  stronger  and  stronger  through  all  the  years  that 
we   journeyed    together.     I   took    her    on    board    the 
steamer  with  me,  and  returned  to  headquarters.     Next 
I  procured    saddle,   bridle,  halter,   spurs,  leggins,   and 
saddle-bags.      For  leggins  I  bought  a  yard  and  a  half 
of  butternut  jean,  which  was  cut  into  two  equal  parts, 
and  the  buttons   and   button-holes  so  arranged  that  I 
could  wrap  them  tightly  around  my  legs  from  a  short 
distance  above  my  knees,  and  button  them  on.     They 
were  secured  from  slipping  down  by  a  pair  of  strings 
which  were  wound  about  the  legs  both  above  and  be- 
low the  knees,  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  interfere 
with  their  free  movement  in  either  riding  or  walking. 
A  good  deal  of  skill,  as  well  as  a  good  deal  of  awk- 
wardness, may  be  displayed  in  putting  on  and  tying 
on  a  pair  of  leggins ;  and  when  a  man  displays  un- 
iiMiiil   facility  and   skill  in  this  matter  in  his  travels 
through  the  Brush,  he  is  at  once  taken  to  be   either 
an  itinerant  preacher — or  a  horse-thief.     In  long  horse- 
liuck  journeys  these  leggins   are    invaluable   as  a  pro- 
ion  against  mud,  rain,  and   cold.     I  have  traveled 
over  the  muddiest  roads,  many  days  and  weeks,  when, 
on  arriving  at  the  house  of  some  hospitable  friend,  I 
so  completely  bespattered  and   covered  with   mud 


MY  OUTFIT  FOR  MY  LIFE  IN  THE  BRUSH.     33 

that  I  looked  very  much  like  the  roads  through  which 
I  had  been  traveling ;  but,  on  taking  off  my  leggins 
and  overcoat,  I  laid  aside  the  most  of  the  mud  with 
them,  and  so  presented  a  very  respectable  appearance. 

But  the  saddle-bags  were  indispensable.  In  them 
I  carried  all  the  changes  in  my  wardrobe,  and  all 
such  articles  for  my  personal  comfort  as  one  can  have 
whose  home  is  on  horseback ;  together  with  such  re- 
ports, documents,  and  papers,  as  were  indispensable  to 
me  in  the  prosecution  of  my  labors.  With  a  large 
blanket-shawl  rolled  compactly  together,  and  strapped 
with  my  umbrella  behind  my  saddle  upon  a  pad  at- 
tached to  it  for  this  purpose,  I  was  prepared  to  travel 
without  any  regard  to  rain  or  weather. 

Behold  me,  then,  with  my  new  and  complete  out- 
fit, mounted  and  starting  for  the  Brush,  in  a  broad- 
brimmed  white  hat,  snuff-colored  overcoat,  butternut- 
dyed  pantaloons,  leggins,  heavy  boots,  and  spurs.  My 
saddle-bags  were  thrown  across  the  saddle,  and  my 
blanket-shawl  and  umbrella  strapped  behind  it.  As  I 
rode  out  of  the  city  into  the  country,  I  met  a  country- 
man on  his  way  to  town,  who  greeted  me  with  a 
pleasant  "How  d'y,  sir?"  and,  as  he  scanned  with  a 
pleasant  face  my  outfit,  he  added,  "  Traveling,  sir  ? " 
A  countryman,  and  to  the  "  manner  born,"  that 
was  his  quick  recognition  and  approval  of  the  perfec- 
tion and  completeness  of  my  outfit  for  the  Brush. 
Two  negroes,  who  were  felling  a  huge  tree  in  the 


34  AV  THE  BRUSH. 

dense  forest  at  the  roadside,  paused  in  their  labor, 
and  manifested  their  approval  with  a  broad  African 
grin,  and  "  Mighty  nice  hoss,  dat,  massa ! " 

In  my  next  chapter  I  shall  make  good  these  com- 
ments. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   ITINERANT   PIONEER   PREACHER'S    FAITHFUL    HORSE. 

I  THINK  a  good  horse  is  worthy  of  a  niche  in  the 
temple  of  fame.  I  know  that  many  men  have  been 
immortalized  in  song  and  eloquence,  and  had  magnifi- 
cent monuments  erected  to  their  memory,  who  have 
never  done  one  half  as  much  for  the  good  of  the 
world  as  the  faithful  animal  I  rode  so  many  years, 
through  the  wilds  of  the  Southwest,  in  the  service  of 
the  American  Bible  Society.  But  very  few  men 
have  done  as  much  to  promote  the  circulation  of  the 
Word  of  God,  "  without  note  or  comment,"  as  she  did 
in  those  years  of  faithful  labor. 

If  there  be  a  paradise  where  there  are  purling 
streams,  grateful  shade,  and  fat  pastures  for  horses 
that  have  been  faithful  and  true,  I  am  sure  that  she 
has  a  high  rank  in  "  the  noble  army "  of  horses  that  in 
sunshine  and  in  storm,  with  unflagging  devotion,  have 
borne  itinerant  pioneer  preachers  through  mud  and 
rain,  and  sleet  and  snow,  as  with  glowing,  burning 
zeal  they  have  prosecuted  their  heroic  Christian  labors. 


30 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


All  honor  to  the  itinerant's  faithful  horse — ray  own 
among  the  number!  My  very  pen  seems  to  catch 
new  inspiration,  and  dance  with  delight,  as  I  attempt 
her  eulogy. 

In  fact,  she  shrank  from  no  toil  in  the  prosecution 
of  this  good  work.  She  never  kept  me  from  fulfilling 
an  appointment  by  refusing  to  ford  a  river.  She 
never  hesitated  to  enter  any  canebrake  it  was  neces- 
sary for  me  to  cross,  and,  though  the  canes  were  ever 
so  thick  and  tangled,  and  resisted  her  progress  like  so 
many  ropes  or  cords  around  her  breast,  yet  she  pressed 
carefully  and  firmly  against  them,  until  they  yielded 
to  her  power,  and  we  emerged  safely  from  the  thicket. 
She  never  flinched  from  climbing  the  steepest  moun- 
tain-paths, where  I  had  to  hold  on  to  her  mane  with 
both  hands  to  keep  from  sliding  off  behind  her;  and 
then  she  would  as  kindly  perform  the  more  difficult 
feat  of  descending  such  paths,  stepping  carefully  and 
firmly  so  as  not  to  stumble  or  fall,  while  I  kept  my 
position  in  the  saddle  by  holding  on  to  the  crupper 
with  one  hand  and  guiding  her  with  the  other.  In  a 
word,  she  never  failed  or  disappointed  me  at  any 
time,  in  any  place,  or  in  any  particular. 

She  was  of  medium  size,  light-sorrel  color,  white 
face,  and  in  all  respects  of  admirable"  form  and  mold. 
She  had  been  broken  for  the  saddle  to  either  pace, 
trot,  or  gallop,  and  each  gait  was  about  as  easy  and 
perfect  as  possible.  In  long  journeys  of  weeks,  and 


THE  PREACHERS  HORSE.  37 

sometimes  of  months,  her  movements  were  always  free 
and  fleet,  and  by  alternating  from  one  gait  to  another 
she  bore  me  about  as  easily  and  gently  as  one  could 
well  wish  to  be  carried  on  horseback.  But  her  kind, 
affectionate  disposition  was  her  crowning  excellence.  I 
never  hitched  her  and  went  into  a  house  for  a  long 
or  short  stay,  that  she  did  not  greet  me  as  soon  as  I 
opened  the  door  on  my  return  with  her  affectionate 
whinny.  She  would  recognize  me  among  the  congre- 
gation, as  I  came  out  of  any  church  where  I  had 
preached,  or  wherever  she  could  see  me  in  the  largest 
gatherings  of  people,  and  always  with  the  same  warm 
salutation.  Whenever  I  went  to  her  stable  in  the 
morning,  or  wherever  I  approached  her  after  a  brief 
separation,  her  demonstrations  of  affection  were  as 
strong  as  they  could  well  be  without  human  powers. 

On  one  occasion  I  rode  up  to  the  bank  of  a  small 
river,  very  near  its  mouth,  and  hailed  the  ferryman 
on  the  opposite  side.  While  waiting  for  him  to  cross, 
I  led.  her  down  upon  the  planks  which  extended  a 
short  distance  into  the  river,  that  she  might  drink. 
Wading  into  the  water,  she  stepped  beyond  the  planks 
and  instantly  sank  to  her  breast  in  the  mud.  It  was 
the  sediment  that  had  been  deposited  there  by  numer- 
ous freshets.  As  she  went  down  the  entire  depth  of 
her  fore-legs  in  an  instant,  she  made  one  desperate 
effort  to  extricate  herself,  but  in  vain.  She  seemed  to 
comprehend  her  condition  perfectly,  turned  to  me  with 


3g  JN  THE  BRUSH. 

a  beseeching  look  and  groan,  and  did  not  make  another 
struggle.    I  told  her  to  lie  still,  and  started  on  a  run 
to  get  some  teamsters,  whom  I  had  met  with   their 
large  six-horse  teams  as  I  rode  up  to  the  river-bank, 
to  help  me  in  getting  her  out.    They  kindly  came  to 
my  aid,  and    by  putting  my  saddle-girth   under    her 
breast,  and  tying  ropes  to  each  end  of  it,  they  lifted 
her  out  of  the  mud  by  main  strength.    When  she  was 
fairly  on  her  feet,  her  demonstrations  of  gratitude  were 
most    remarkable.     She    thanked    me    over    and    over 
again  as  plainly  and  strongly  as  horse-language  would 
possibly  admit  of,  danced  around  me  with  delight,  per- 
sisted   in    rubbing  her  nose   against  me  in   the   most 
affectionate  manner,   and  showed   a    joy   that    seemed 
wellnigh  human.     It  was  warm  summer   weather,  and 
on  reaching  the  hotel  on  the  opposite  shore  I  had  her 
legs  and  her  entire  body  from  the  tips  of  her  ears  to 
the  end   of    her  tail    thoroughly   washed  and    rubbed 
dry.    After  dinner  I  resumed  my   journey,    and  she 
was  as  well  as  ever. 

Everywhere,  during  all  the  years  that  I  traveled  in 
the  Brush,  my  Jenny — for  that  was  the  name  I  gave 
her — made  friends  for  herself  and  me.  If  I  rode  up 
to  a  house  upon  a  plantation,  hailed  it  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  country,  and  was  welcomed  to  its 
hospitalities  by  the  owner,  he  would  call  a  negro  servant : 
"Ho!  boy,  carry  this  horse  to  the  stable  and  take 
good  care  of  her.  D'ye  hear?" 


THE  PREACHER'S  HORSE.  39 

When  I  dismounted,  she  understood  that  her  long 
day's  journey  was  ended,  and  knew  where  she  was 
going  as  well  as  the  servant  did.  When  mounted,  she 
would  start  with*  a  fleet  pace  that  was  almost  as  gen- 
tle in  its  movements  as  the  rocking  of  a  cradle ;  which 
would  make  the  rider  roll  the  white  of  his  eyes  with 
the  supremest  African  delight.  Very  often  I  have 
seen  them  turn  their  faces,  beaming  with  satisfaction, 
and  cast  back  furtive  glances  upon  groups  of  young 
Africans  that  were  gazing  after  them  with  an  admira- 
tion that  was  only  equaled  by  their  envy  of  the  rider's 
happy  lot.  Before  reaching  the  stable  a  friendship, 
if  not  affection,  was  established  that  insured  the  most 
liberal  allowance  of  "fodder"  and  corn,  and  the  most 
thorough  currying,  brushing,  and  care.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  on  many  such  occasions  they  promised 
themselves  a  pleasant  stolen  night-ride,  to  visit  friends 
on  some  near  or  remote  plantation,  and  that  they  did 
not  forget  or  fail  to  make  good  their  promises.  When 
I  sometimes  had  occasion  to  protract  my  stay  for  sev- 
eral days,  it  was  amusing  to  listen  to  the  frequent 
applications  from  young  Africa  to  ride  her "  to  the 
brook  and  water  her.  They  were  intensely  solicitous 
that  she  should  not  fail  to  get  water — or  themselves 
rides!  At  all  places,  whether  on  cultivated  plantations 
or  deep  in  the  Brush,  whether  she  was  cared  for  by 
black  or  white,  she  received  the  same  kind  attention. 
Hence  she  was  always  in  the  best  order  and  condition 


40  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

—always  able  and  ready  to  take  me  the  longest  jour- 
neys, through  any  amount  of  mud  and  mire,  and  over 
the  roughest  roads,  wherever  it  was  necessary  for  me 
to  go.  I  am  sure  that  the  people  were  the  more  glad 
to  see  me  on  her  account.  My  honored  instructor, 
the  venerable  President  Nott,  of  Union  College,  in 
his  lectures  on  the  "Beautiful,"  used  to  say: 

"  Young  gentlemen,  undoubtedly  the  two  most  beau- 
tiful objects  in  nature  are  a  beautiful  horse  and  a  beauti- 
ful lady.  I  hope  you  will  not  think  me  ungallant  in 
putting  the  horse  before  the  lady."  I  gratified  the 
love  of  the  beautiful  in  a  fine  horse,  and  so  won  their 
esteem  and  love.  But  I.  was  often  as  much  surprised 
and  gratified  at  her  behavior  in  her  travels  with  me 
upon  "Western  steamboats  as  upon  land.  On  one  occa- 
sion I  took  her  on  board  a  large  New  Orleans  steamer 
with  a  deck-load  of  mules,  horses,  sheep,  etc.,  and  rode 
some  two  hundred  miles.  I  reached  the  place  of  my 
destination  about  midnight,  and  was  obliged  to  land  at 
that  hour.  She  was  standing  immediately  back  of  the 
wheel-house,  and  on  the  side  of  the  boat  toward  the 
shore.  But  the  boat  was  so  loaded  that  I  was  obliged  to 
lead  her  a  long  distance  around  by  the  stern,  past  the 
heels  of  braying  mules  and  bellowing  cattle,  to  the  point 
opposite  the  place  from  which  I  had  started ;  then  for- 
ward, crossing  the  boat  immediately  in  front  of  the  roar- 
ing wood-fires,  which  were  on  the  same  deck,  and  on  to 
the  bow,  where  I  led  her  down  the  plank  on  to  a  large 


THE  PREACHER'S  HORSE.  41 

wharf-boat.  I  then  led  her  the  entire  length  of  this 
boat,  and  down  a  long  plank-way  to  the  shore.  And  all 
this  through  the  indescribable  din  and  confusion  made 
by  mates  and  deck-hands  in  landing  freight,  passengers, 
and  baggage,  and  the  deafening  screech  of  the  whistle 
in  blowing  off  steam.  "When  I  took  her  by  the  bits  and 
said,  "Come,  Jenny,"  she  placed  her  head  against  my 
shoulder  and  followed  me  all  this  long,  crooked,  noisy 
route,  with  the  confidence  of  a  child.  I  had  led  her  on 
and  off  a  great  many  noisy  steamers,  but  that  was  the 
most  notable  instance  of  all. 

But  my  Jenny  had  some  other  qualities  which  I 
should  never  have  discovered  had  they  not  been  made 
known  to  me  by  others.  Elsewhere  in  this  volume  I 
have  spoken  at  length  of  my  visit  to  a  celebrated  water- 
ing-place, and  of  the  numerous  gamblers  and  other 
strange  characters  that  I  met  there.  It  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  very  wild  region.  "When  I  had  arrived  within  a 
few  hours'  ride  of  the  springs,  I  stopped  to  dine  at  a 
house  of  private  entertainment.  A  large  four-horse 
stage,  loaded  with  passengers  bound  for  the  springs,  soon 
drove  up  and  stopped  at  the  same  house,  which  was  the 
regular  place  of  dining  for  the  passengers.  After  din- 
ner I  rode  on  to  the  springs,  keeping  along  the  most  of 
the  way  in  company  with  the  stage.  My  Jenny  at- 
tracted very  marked  attention  from  the  driver  and  pas- 
sengers. The  driver  especially  was  profuse  in  his  ex- 
pressions of  admiration.  As  I  rode  up  to  the  hotel,  the 


42  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

listless,  lounging  visitors,  who  were  so  deep  in  the  Brush 
that  they  had  very  little  to  attract  or  interest  them, 
regarded  her  gait  and  movements  with  general  attention 
and  delight.  "When  I  dismounted,  a  black  boy  was  soon 
in  my  saddle,  and  my  Jenny  moved  off  to  the  stable  with 
her  usual  fleetness  and  grace.  I  entered  the  hotel  and 
registered  my  name,  without  any  prefix  or  suffix  to  indi- 
cate my  employment  or  profession.  The  weather  was 
very  hot,  the  roads  very  dusty,  and  after  the  fashion  of 
the  country  I  was  at  once  furnished  with  water  to  wash. 
As  I  stood  wiping  myself,  the  stage-driver  rushed 
into  the  room  and  up  to  me  in  great  excitement  and 
said: 

"Mr.  Pierson,  will  you  allow  your  horse  to  run? 
The  money  is  up  and  we'll  have  a  race  if  you'll  only 
allow  her  to  run" — at  the  same  time  holding  up  and 
shaking  in  my  face  a  mass  of  bills  that  were  drawn 
through  his  fingers,  after  the  fashion  of  gamblers  in 
those  parts.  I  was  startled  to  hear  my  name  pronounced 
in  a  strange  place,  and  by  a  stranger,  but  in  a  moment 
bethought  me  that  he  had  learned  it  by  looking  on  the 
hotel-register.  I  was  more  startled  by  the  strangeness 
of  the  proposition.  As  the  servant  stood  with  my  sad- 
dle-bags on  his  arm,  waiting  to  show  me  to  my  room, 
I  answered  perhaps  a  little  too  abruptly,  «  No,  sir,"  and 
followed  him  to  my  room,  to  prepare  for  supper. 
When  the  supper-bell  rang,  and  I  stepped  out  of  my 
room  upon  the  piazza,  a  portly  man  of  gentlemanly  bear- 


THE  PREACHER'S  HORSE.  43 

ing,  who  had  evidently  taken  his  position  there  to  wait 
for  me,  approached  me  pleasantly  and  said : 

"  I  hope,  sir,  you  will  reconsider  your  decision  and 
allow  your  mare  to  run.  As  soon  as  you  rode  up  I 
offered  to  bet  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  that  she 
would  outrun  anything  here,  and  the  money  is  up. 
Allow  me  to  say  that  I  am  an  old  Virginian,  and  a  judge 
of  horses,  and  if  you  will  let  her  run  I  am  sure  to  win." 

By  this  time  I  had  entirely  recovered  my  self-posses- 
sion, and,  bowing  politely,  I  looked  directly  into  his  eyes 
and  said : 

"Do  you  think,  sir,  it  will  do  for  a  Presbyterian 
clergyman  to  commence  horse-racing  so  soon  after  reach- 
ing the  Springs  ? " 

He  was  as  much  startled  as  I  had  been — in  fact,  so 
startled  that  he  could  not  say  a  word,  and  I  left  him 
without  any  reply,  and  went  in  to  supper.  "When  I  re- 
turned from  the  dining-room  I  found  him  at  the  door, 
and  he  approached  me  in  the  most  subdued  and  respect- 
ful manner  and  said : 

"Allow  me  to  speak  to  you  again,  sir.  I  wish  to 
apologize,  sir ;  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir ;  I  assure  you,  sir, 
that  nothing  would  induce  me  knowingly  to  insult  a 
clergyman." 

I  responded,  very  pleasantly : 

"  I  am  certain,  sir,  that  no  insult  was  intended,  and 
therefore  there  is  no  pardon  to  be  granted." 

He  thanked  me  very  warmly  for  my  kind  construe- 


44  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

tion  of  bis  motives,  and  left  me  with  a  lighter  step  and 
brighter  face.  His  companions  were  all  greatly  pleased 
with  my  treatment  of  the  matter ;  and,  as  I  have  else- 
where said,  there  was  a  general  turnout  of  all  the  gam- 
blers—of whom  he  was  one  of  the  most  prominent— to 
hear  me  preach  in  the  ballroom  the  next  Sabbath.  But 
I  need  not  say,  to  any  one  at  all  familiar  with  life  in  the 
Southwest,  that  he  had  to  "stand  treat"  all  around 
among  his  companions,  for  being  thus,  in  the  vernacular 
of  the  country,  "  picked  up  "  by  the  preacher. 

In  passing  through  another  part  of  this  county  the  fol- 
lowing winter,  I  rode  up  to  a  blacksmith-shop  to  get  a  shoe 
tightened.  As  soon  as  the  blacksmith  came  out  he  said : 

"  "Wasn't  you  at  the  Springs  last  summer  with  this 
mare  ? " 

I  replied  in  the  affirmative,  and,  on  looking  at  him, 
recognized  the  man  that  kept  a  little  shop  there,  and 
had  shod  her  in  the  summer. 

"  "Well,"  said  he,  leaning  upon  her  neck,  patting  her 
affectionately,  and  looking  into  vacancy  with  a  pleased 
expression,  as  if  living  over  some  pleasant  scene  in  the 
past,  "they  got  her  out,  preacher,  and  run  her,  any 
way."  And  then,  as  if  to  make  the  matter  all  right 
with  me,  he  looked  up  into  my  face  and  said,  with 
the  most  satisfied  smile  and  emphatic  nod:  "And, 
preacher,  she  beat,  she  did.  He  won  his  money  !  " 

During  my  vacation-trips  to  the  East,  for  several 
summers,  I  left  my  horse  with  some  kind,  warm 


THE  PREACHER-1 8  HORSE.  4.5 

friends  upon  a  plantation,  for  the  ladies  and  chil- 
dren to  ride  as  they  might  wish.  At  first  it  was 
difficult  for  me  to  make  satisfactory  arrangements  to 
leave  her  for  several  weeks.  I  could  not  trust  her 
at  a  livery-stable.  There  I  felt  sure  she  would  get  a 
great  many  stolen  rides.  I  found  also  that  the  temp- 
tation was  too  great  for  the  virtue  of  some  professed 
friends  with  whom  I  left  her,  for  on  my  return  I 
found  she  had  been  overridden,  and  looked  worn  rather 
than  rested  from  the  vacation  I  had  intended  for 
her  as  well  as  myself.  But  in  my  travels  I  found  a 
lady  from  my  native  State,  'New  York,  who  had 
gone  South  as  a  teacher,  and  married  a  planter.  There 
was  a  slight  disparity  in  their  ages.  I  'would  not 
take  oath  as  to  the  exact  difference,  but  I  heard  a  good 
many  times  that,  when  married,  she  was  nineteen  and 
he  forty-nine.  If  that  was  so,  the  marriage  furnished 
confirmation  of  the  popular  talk  and  notions  concern- 
ing "  an  old  man's  darling."  He  was  certainly  as  kind 
and  indulgent  as  a  husband  could  well  be.  She  was  a 
Presbyterian  and  he  a  Baptist.  He  was  kind  and  ge- 
nial, and  full  of  vivacity  and  life,  and  loved  to  entertain 
me  as  his  "  wife's  preacher,"  and  for  her  sake,  as  well  as 
to  gratify  his  own  warm  social  instincts.  Here,  at  each 
return  for  years,  I  ever  found  the  warmest  welcome 
and  the  kindest  home.  To  her  my  visits  were  like  those 
of  an  old  friend,  for,  when  far  away  from  the  com- 
panions and  scenes  of  early  life,  the  ties  that  unite 
3 


4G  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

those  from  the  same  State  become  strong  and  endear- 
in^.  But  far  stronger  than  this  is  the  bond  that  unites 

O*  ~ 

members  of  different  churches  to  their  own  clergymen, 
and  especially  when  they  but  rarely  enjoy  their  minis- 
trations. Gifted,  intelligent,  and  full  of.  energy,  and 
also  sympathizing  deeply  with  the  object  of  my  Chris- 
tian toils  and  labors,  she  spared  no  pains  to  make  her 
house  what  it  ever  was  to  me,  a  delightful  resting-place 
and  home.  A  large,  fine  chamber  always  awaited  me, 
to  which  they  gave  my  name,  and  here  I  spent  many 
delightful  hours.  I  brought  to  them  many  tales  of  my 
adventures  in  the  Brush,  for  which  my  host  had  the 
keenest  appreciation,  and  I  heard  from  him  many  ac- 
counts of  preachers  and  preaching  he  had  known  and 
heard  that  are  hard  to  be  surpassed,  which  I  intend  to 
give  my  readers  in  another  chapter.  It  was  with  these 
friends  that  for  years  I  left  my  horse  during  all  my 
vacation-journeys.  Here  she  became  a  family  pet. 
Here  I  was  sure  she  would  never  be  overridden,  and 
al \\ays  receive  the  kindest  care.  Here  she  came  to  be 
regarded  with  an  attachment,  if  possible,  greater  than  my 
own ;  for,  when  I  returned  for  her,  the  children  would 
have  a  hearty  cry  as  I  rode  her  away.  "When  at  length 
I  closed  my  labors  in  the  Southwest  and  left  the  region, 
my  kind  Baptist  friend  was  more  than  glad  to  procure 
her  for  his  Presbyterian  wife,  and  I  left  her  where  I  was 
sure  she  would  have  the  kindest  treatment  while  ser- 
viceable, and  enjoy  a  comfortable  and  honored  old  age. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

OLTXTIME    HOSPITALITY   IN   THE   SOUTHWEST. 

THE  hospitality  extended  to  ministers  of  the  gospel 
by  the  people  who  lived  in  the  Brush  was  generous 
and  large-hearted  to  a  degree  that  I  have  never  known 
among  any  other  class  of  people.  They  obeyed  the 
Scripture  injunction,  "Use  hospitality  without  grudg- 
ing." They  were  "  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers." 
I  found  their  tables,  their  beds,  their  stables,  and  indeed 
all  the  comforts  of  their  rude  homes,  always  open  for 
the  rest  and  refreshment  of  myself  and  my  indispensa- 
ble horse.  We  were  as  welcome  to  all  these  as  to  the 
water  that  bubbled  from  their  springs  and  "  ran  among 
the  hills." 

At  the  commencement  of  my  itinerant  life,  on  leav- 
ing the  families  where  I  had  spent  a  night  or  taken  a 
meal,  I  used  to  propose  to  pay  them,  and  ask  for  my 
bill ;  but  I  found  this  gave  offense.  Many  seemed  to 
regard  it  as  a  reflection  on  their  generosity  for  me  to 
intimate  or  suppose  that  they  would  take  pay  for  enter- 
taining a  preacher.  I  therefore  adopted  a  formula  that 


48  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

saved  me  from  all  danger  of  wounding  their  feelings, 
and  relieved  my  character  from  all  suspicion  of  a  dis- 
position to  avoid  the  payment  of  my  bills.  It  was  as 
follows :  When  about  to  leave  a  family,  I  said  to  them, 
"I  am  indebted  to  you  for  a  night's  entertainment," 
to  which  the  general  response  was:  "Not  at  all,  sir. 
Come  and  stay  with  us  again,  whenever  you  pass  this 
way." 

It  was  a  very  rare  occurrence  that  I  was  permitted 
to  cancel  my  indebtedness  by  paying  for  what  I  had 
received. 

In  thanking  them  for  their  hospitality,  as  of  course 
I  always  did  on  leaving  them,  they  made  me  feel  that 
I  had  conferred  a  favor  rather  than  incurred  an  obli- 
gation by  staying  with  them. 

For  years  it  was  my  custom  to  apply  for  entertain- 
ment at  any  house  wherever  night  overtook  me,  and 
I  invariably  received  a  cordial  welcome.  This  applica- 
tion for  entertainment  was  always  made  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  people,  and  in  their  own  vernacular, 
which  I  will  illustrate  by  an  example. 

In  my  horseback-journeyings  I  had  reached  the  tall, 
dense,  heavy  forests  of  the  bottom-lands  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  about  a  dozen  miles  from  the  Father  of 
A\  atere.  As  the  sun  was  about  setting,  I  came  upon  a 
l:irire"dead'ning,"  where  the  underbrush  had  been  cut 
out  and  burned  off,  the  large  trees  had  been  girdled 
and  had  died,  and  a  crop  of  corn  had  been  raised  among 


OLD-TIME  HOSPITALITY  IN  TEE  SOUTHWEST.    49 

the  dead  forest-trees,  before  the  new-comer  in  this  wil- 
derness had  been  able  to  completely  clear  a  field  around 
his  newly-erected  log-cabin.  Turning  off  from  the  cor- 
duroy-road upon  which  I  had  been  traveling,  I  took  a 
footpath,  and,  following  that,  was  soon  as  near  the  cabin 
as  a  high  rail-fence  would  allow  me  to  approach  on 
horseback.  A  short  distance  from  this  log-cabin  was  a 
still  smaller  one  occupied  by  a  colored  aunty  and  her 
family,  and  used  for  a  kitchen ;  and  not  far  off  still  an- 
other log-building,  used  for  a  barn  and  stable. 

The  most  of  my  readers  in  the  older  sections  of  the 
country  will  suppose  that  I  had  now  only  to  dismount, 
hitch  my  horse,  climb  the  fence,  rap  at  the  door,  and  so 
gain  admittance  to  my  resting-place  for  the  night.  Far 
otherwise.  Only  the  most  untraveled  and  inexperi- 
enced in  the  Brush  would  undertake  so  rash  an  experi- 
ment. 

Sitting  upon  my  horse,  I  called  out  in  a  loud  voice, 
"  Hello  there ! "  That  call  was  for  the  same  purpose  that 
the  city  pastor  mounts  the  stone  steps  and  rings  the 
bell  at  the  door  of  his  parishioner.  It  was  rather  more 
effective. 

A  large  pack  of  hounds  and  various  other  kinds  of 
dogs  responded  with  a  barking  chorus,  a  group  of  black 
pickaninnies  rushed  from  the  adjacent  kitchen,  followed 
to  the  door  by  their  sable  mother,  with  arms  a-kimbo 
and  hands  fresh  from  mixing  the  pone  or  corn-dodger 
for  the  family  supper;  all,  with  distended  eyes  and 


50  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

mouth,  and  shining  ivory,  staring  at  the  stranger  with 
i-xcitL'd  iiiul  pleased  curiosity.  At  almost  the  same  in- 
fant, the  mistress  of  the  incipient  plantation  ap- 
pr.. ached  the  door  of  her  cabin,  stockingless  and  shoe- 
less, with  a  dress  of  woolsey  woven  in  her  own  loom  by 
her  own  hands,  and  cut  and  made  by  her  own  skill,  with 
face  not  less  pleased  and  excited  than  the  others,  and 
her  cordial  greeting  of  "  How  d'y,  stranger — how  d'y, 
*ir  ?  'Light,  sir !  [alight]— 'light,  sir ! " 

JL'inaining  upon  my  horse,  I  replied:  "I  am  a 
t-t  ranger  in  these  parts,  madam.  I  have  ridden  about 
fifty  miles  since  morning  and  am  very  tired.  Can  I 
get  to  stay  with  you  to-night,  madam  ? " 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  replied,  promptly,  "if  you  can  put 
up  with  our  rough  fare.  We  never  turn  anybody 
away.'' 

I  told  her  I  should  be  very  glad  to  stay  with  her, 
and  dismounted.  The  dogs,  who  would  otherwise  have 
resisted  my  approach  to  the  door  by  a  combined  attack, 
obeyed  their  instructions  not  to  harm  me,  and  granted 
me  a  safe  entrance  as  a  recognized  friend. 

Such  was  the  universal  training  of  the  dogs,  and 
such  the  uniform  method  of  approaching  and  gaining 
admittance  to  the  houses  of  the  people  in  the  Brush. 
My  hostess  informed  me  that  her  husband  was  at  work 
in  the  "dead'ning,"  but  that  he  would  soon  be  at  home 
and  take  care  of  my  horse. 

I   told   her  that   I   could   do  that   myself,  and  she 


OLD-TIME  HOSPITALITY  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  51 

sent  her  little  son  along  with  rne  to  the  stable,  where 
I  bestowed  that  kind  and,  I  may  say,  affectjonate  care 
that  one  who  journeys  for  years  on  horseback  learns  to 
bestow  upon  his  faithful  horse.  I  then  entered  the 
cabin,  and  received  that  warm  welcome  that  awaits 
the  traveler  in  our  "Western  wilds. 

Shall  I  describe  my  home  for  the  night  ?  It  was  a 
new  log-house,  less  than  twenty  feet  square,  and  ad- 
vanced to  a  state  of  completeness  beyond  many  in 
which  I  had  lodged,  inasmuch  as  the  large  openings 
between  the  logs  had  been  filled  with  "  chink  and 
daubing."  The  chimney,  built  upon  the  outside  of 
the  house,  was  made  of  split  sticks,  laid  up  in  the 
proper  form,  and  thoroughly  "daubed"  with  mud,  so 
as  to  prevent  them  from  taking  fire.  A  large  opening 
cut  through  the  logs  communicated  with  this  chimney, 
and  formed  the  ample  fireplace.  The  roof  was  made 
of  "  shakes  " — pieces  of  timber  rived  out  very  much  in 
the  form  of  staves,  but  not  shaved  at  all.  These  were 
laid  upon  the  roof  like  shingles,  except  that  they  were 
not  nailed  on,  but  "  weighted  on  "  —  kept  in  their 
places  by  small  timbers  laid  across  each  row  of  "  shakes  " 
over  the  entire  roof.  These  timbers  were  kept  in  their 
places  by  shorter  ones  placed  between  them,  trans- 
versely, up  and  down  the  roof.  In  this  manner  the 
pioneer  constructs  a  roof  for  his  cabin,  by  his  own 
labor,  without  the  expenditure  of  a  dime  for  nails. 
With  wooden  hinges  and  a  wooden  latch  for  his  door, 


52  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

be  needs  to  purchase  little  but  glass  for  his  windows, 
to  provide  a  comfortable  home  for  his  family.  His 
latch-string,  made  of  hemp  or  flax  that  he  has  raised, 
or  from  the  skin  of  the  deer  which  he  has  pursued 
and  slain  in  the  chase,  which,  as  the  old  song  has  it — 

"Hangs  outside  the  door," 

symbolizes  the  cordial  welcome  and  abounding  hospi- 
tality to  be  found  within. 

At  the  end  of  the  room  opposite  the  fireplace  there 
was  a  bed  in  each  corner,  under  one  of  which  there 
was  a  "trundle-bed"  for  the  children.  There  was  no 
chamber-floor  or  chamber  above  to  obstruct  the  view 
of  the  roof.  There  was  no  division  into  apartments, 
not  even  by  hanging  up  blankets,  a  device  I  have  seen 
resorted  to  in  less  primitive  regions.  From  floor  to 
roof,  from  wall  to  wall,  all  was  a  single  "family" 
room,  which  was  evidently  to  be  occupied  by  the  fam- 
ily and  myself  in  common.  A  rough  board  table, 
some  plain  chairs,  and  a  very  few  other  articles  com- 
pleted the  inventory  of  household  furniture  of  the 
pioneer's  home  to  which  I  had  been  welcomed. 

Such  a  home  was  the  birthplace  of  Lincoln,  and 
many  other  of  the  greatest,  wisest,  and  best  men  that 
have  ever  blessed  our  country.  Such  homes  have  been 
crowned  with  abundance,  and  have  been  the  scenes  of 
as  much  real  comfort  and  joy  as  any  others  in  our 
land. 


OLD-TIME  HOSPITALITY  IN  TEE  SOUTHWEST,    53 

I  have  found  that  curiosity  is  a  trait  that  is  not 
monopolized  by  any  one  section  of  country  or  class  of 
people.  It  belongs  to  all  localities,  and  to  all  grades 
and  kinds  of  people.  I  therefore,  in  accordance  with 
what  a  pretty  wide  experience  had  taught  me  was  the 
best  course  to  pursue,  proceeded  at  once  to  gratify  the 
curiosity  of  my  hostess  as  to  who  her  guest  was,  and 
what  business  had  brought  him  to  this  wild  region.  I 
told  her  my  name,  and  that  I  was  a  Presbyterian 
preacher,  and  an  agent  of  the  American"  Bible  Society. 
This  not  only  satisfied  her  curiosity,  but  was  very 
gratifying  information  to  her,  and  I  received  a  renewed 
and  cordial  welcome  to  her  home  as  a  minister  of  the 
gospel. 

In  the  course  of  the  ordinary  conversation  and  ques- 
tions that  attend  such  a  meeting  of  strangers  in  the 
Brush,  I  learned  that  she  and  her  husband  had  emi- 
grated from  a  county  some  hundreds  of  miles  east, 
which  I  had  several  times  visited  in  the  prosecution 
of  my  mission,  and  I  was  able  to  give  her  a  great  deal 
of  information  in  regard  to  her  old  neighbors  and 
friends.  We  were  in  the  midst  of  an  earnest  conver- 
sation in  regard  to  these  people,  when  her  husband 
came  in  from  his  labors.  On  being  introduced  to  me, 
and  informed  in  regard  to  my  mission,  he  repeated  the 
welcome  his  wife  had  already  given  me  to  the  hospi- 
tality of  their  cabin. 

Our  supper  was  such  as  is  almost  universally  spread 


54.  AV  THE  BRUSH. 

in  the  wilds  of  the  Southwest.  It  consisted  of  an  abun- 
dance of  hot  corn-bread,  fried  bacon,  potatoes,  and 
coffee.  \  hard  day's  labor  and  a  long  day's  ride 
pivpaivd  us  to  do  it  equal  justice. 

The  evening  wore  rapidly  away  in  conversation. 
Such  pioneers  are  not  dull,  stupid  men.  Their  pecul- 
iar life  gives  activity  to  mind  as  well  as  body.  My 
host  was  anxious  and  glad  to  hear  from  the  great 
outside  active  world,  with  which  I  had  more  recently 
mingled,  and  had  questions  to  ask  and  views  to  give 
as  to  what  was  going  on  in  the  political  and  religious 
world. 

At  length  our  wearied  bodies  made  a  plea  for  rest 
that  could  not  be  refused,  and  I  was  invited  to  con- 
duct their  family  worship.  This  invitation  was  ex- 
tended in  the  language  and  manner  peculiar  to  the 
Southern  and  Southwestern  sections  of  the  country. 
This  is  universally  as  follows : 

The  Bible  and  hymn-book  are  brought  forward  by 
the  host,  and  laid  upon  the  table  or  stand,  when  he 
turns  to  the  preacher  and  says,  ""Will  you  take  the 
l>ooks,  sir  '.  " 

That  is  the  invitation  to  lead  the  devotions  of  the 
family  in  singing  and  prayer.  It  has  been  my  happy 
lot  to  receive  and  respond  to  that  invitation— as  I  did 
that  night— in  many  hundreds  of  families  and  in  some 
of  the  wildest  portions  of  our  land. 

The  method  of  extending  an   invitation  to  "  ask  a 


OLD-TIME  HOSPITALITY  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  55 

blessing"  before  a  meal  is  quite  as  peculiar.  Being 
seated  at  the  table,  the  host,  turning  to  the  preacher, 
says,  "  "Will  you  make  a  beginning,  sir  ?  " — all  at  table 
reverently  bowing  their  heads  as  he  extends  the  invi- 
tation, and  while  the  blessing  is  being  asked. 

So,  too,  I  have  "  made  a  beginning "  at  many  a 
hospitable  board  in  many  different  States.  I  did  not 
that  night  make  the  mistake  that  is  reported  of  an  in- 
experienced home-missionary  explorer,  in  similar  cir- 
cumstances, who,  laboring  undor  the  impression  that 
"  to  retire "  and  "  to  go  to  bed ''  were  synonymous 
terms,  said,  "  Madam,  I  will  retire,  if  you  please." 

"  Retire !  "  she  rejoined ;  "  we  never  retires,  stranger. 
We  iust  goes  to  bed." 

*i  o 

Sitting  with  the  family  before  the  large  fireplace, 
I  said,  "Madam,  I  have  ridden  a  long  distance  to- 
day, and  am  very  tired." 

"  You  can  go  to  bed  at  any  time  you  wish,  sir," 
said  she.  "Just  take  the  left-hand  bed." 

I  withdrew  behind  their  backs  to  "  lay  my  gar- 
ments by,"  took  the  left-hand  bed,  turned  my  face  to 
the  left-hand  wall,  and  slept  soundly  for  the  night. 

When  I  awoke  in  the  morning,  husband  and  wife 
had  arisen  and  left  the  room,  he  to  feed  his  team,  and 
she  to  attend  to  her  household  duties  in  the  kitchen. 
After  an  early  breakfast,  and  again  leading  their  fam- 
ily devotions,  I  bade  them  good-by,  with  many  thanks 
for  their  kindness,  and  with  repeated  invitations  on 


5f>  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

their  part  to  be  sure  to  spend  the  night  with  them 
r-hnuld  I  ever  come  that  way  again.  But  I  have  never 
seen  them  since. 

I  have  very  often  recalled  a  hospitable  reception  ik1 
the  Brush,  of  a  very  different  character,  the  recollec- 
tion of  which  has  always  been  exceedingly  pleasant  to 
me.  Wishing  to  visit  a  rough,  wild,  remote  region,  at 
a  season  of  the  year  when  the  roads  were  almost  im- 
passable on  account  of  the  spring  rains  and  the  mud, 
I  concluded  to  go  the  greater  part  of  the  distance  by 
steamboats,  down  one  river  and  up  another,  and  then 
ride  about  fifty  miles  in  a  stage  or  mail-wagon.  The 
roads  would  scarcely  be  called  roads  at  all  in  most 
parts  of  the  country,  and  I  shall  not  be  able  to  give 
to  many  of  my  readers  any  true  idea  of  the  exceeding 
roughness  of  that  ride.  A  considerable  part  of  the  way 
was  through  the  bottom-lands  of  one  of  the  smaller 
Southwestern  rivers  that  swell  the  volume  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi. A  recent  freshet  had  left  the  high- water  mark 
upon  the  trees  several  feet  higher  than  the  backs  of 
our  horses;  and  as  we  jolted  over  the  small  stumps 
and  great  roots  of  the  trees,  from  which  the  earth  had 
i  washed  away  by  the  freshet,  I  was  wearied,  ex- 
kingly  wearied,  by  the  rough  road  and  comfortless 
vehicle  in  which  I  traveled. 

At  length  we  came  upon  a  very  pleasant  planta- 
tion, with  a  comfortable  house  and  surroundings,  where 
the  driver,  a  boy  about  fifteen  years  old,  told  me  he 


OLD-TIME  HOSPITALITY  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST,   57 

would  feed  his  team,  and  we  would  get  our  dinner.  It 
was  not  an  hotel.  Mail-contractors  in  this  region  often 
make  such  arrangements  to  procure  feed  for  their 
horses  and  meals  for  the  few  passengers  that  they 
carry,  at  private  houses.  As  I  entered  the  house  I  was 
greeted  with  one  of  those  calm,  mild,  sweet  faces  that 
one  never  forgets.  I  should  think  that  my  hostess 
was  between  thirty-five  and  forty  years  old.  I  was 
too  weary  to  engage  in  much  conversation,  and  she 
was  quiet,  and  said  very  little  to  me.  As  I  observed 
her  movements  about  the  room  in  preparing  the  din- 
ner, I  thought  I  had  never  seen  a  face  that  presented 
a  more  perfect  picture  of  contentment  and  peace.  I 
felt  perfectly  sure  that  she  was  a  Christian — that  her 
face  bespoke  "  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  un- 
derstanding." When  she  invited  the  driver  and  my- 
self to  take  seats  at  the  table,  I  said,  "Shall  I  ask  a 
blessing,  madam  ? " 

With  a  smile  she  bowed  assent,  and,  as  I  concluded 
and  looked  up,  her  face  was  all  radiant  with  joy,  and 
she  said  excitedly,  "  You  are  a  preacher,  sir ! " 

I  replied,  "  Yes,  madam." 

"  Well,"  she  responded,  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you.  I 
love  to  see  preachers.  I  love  to  cook  for  them,  and 
take  care  of  them.  I  love  to  have  them  in  my  house." 

I  told  her  who  I  was,  explained  the  character  of  my 
mission,  and  expressed,  I  trust  with  becoming  warmth, 
my  gratification  at  the  cordiality  of  her  welcome. 


AY  THE  BRUSH. 
Oo 

«0h,"  said  she,  "if  I  was  a  man,  I  know  what  I 
would  do.  I  would  do  nothing  but  preach.  I'd  go, 
and  go,  and  go;  and  preach,  and  preach,  and  preach. 
I  wouldn't  have  anything  to  pester  me.  I  wouldn't 
marry  nary  woman  in  the  world.  I'd  go,  and  go,  and 
go_and  preach,  and  preach,  and  preach,  until  I  could 
preach  no  longer;  and  then  I'd  lie  down— close  my 
eyes — and — go  on." 

Was  there  ever  a  more  graphic  and  truthful  de- 
scription of  an  earnest,  apostolic  life  ?  Was  there  ever 
a  more  simple,  beautiful  description  of  a  peaceful 
Christian  death?  They  recall  the  statement  of  Paul, 
"This  one  thing  I  do";  and  the  story  of  Stephen, 
"  And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  fell  asleep." 

The  people  who  have  spent  their  lives  deep  in  the 
I'.nish,  as  this  good  woman  had,  have  no  other  idea 
of  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  but  one  whose  duty  and 
mission  it  is  to  "  go  "  and  "  preach."  They  have  been 
accustomed  to  hearing  but  one  message,  or  at  most  a 
few  messages,  from  their  lips,  and  then  hear  their  fare- 
well words,  listen  to  their  farewell  songs,  shake  hands 
with  them,  and  see  them  take  their  departure  to  "  go " 
and  "  preach  "  to  others  who,  like  them,  dwell  in  lone 
and  solitary  wilds.  Meetings  and  partings  like  these 
have  originated  and  given  their  peculiar  power  to  such 
refrains  as — 

"Say,  brothers,  will  you  meet  us — 
Say,  brothers,  will  you  meet  us — 


OLD-TIME  HOSPITALITY  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST,  59 

Say,  brothers,  will  you  meet  us 
On  Canaan's  happy  shore? 

"  By  the  grace  of  God  we'll  meet  you — 
By  the  grace  of  God  we'll  meet  you — 
By  the  grace  of  God  we'll  meet  you 
On  Canaan's  happy  shore." 

This  woman  knew  little  of  the  great  world — had 
little  that  it  calls  culture ;  her  language  was  that  of  the 
people  among  whom  she  lived,  and  was  such  as  she 
had  always  been  accustomed  to  hear ;  but  her  thoughts 
were  deep  and  pure,  her  "  peace  flowed  like  a  river," 
and  her  communion  with  God  lifted  her  to  companion- 
ship with  the  noblest  and  best  of  earth.  Though  I 
spent  but  little  more  than  an  hour  in  her  presence, 
and  many  years  have  passed  since  that  transient  meet- 
ing, her  picture  still  hangs  in  the  chamber  of  my 
memory,  calm,  pure,  and  saintly,  and  breathing  upon 
my  spirit  a  perpetual  benediction. 


CHAPTER  V. 

OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS   IN   THE   BRUSH. 

RELIGIOUS  meetings,  popularly  denominated  "  basket- 
meetings,"  were  known  and  recognized  as  established 
institutions  in  the  Brush.  They  were  among  the  as- 
semblages that  had  resulted  from  the  sparseness  of  the 
population  in  those  regions.  "Where  the  country  was 
hilly  and  mountainous,  and  the  settlers  were  scattered 
along  the  streams  in  the  narrow  valleys ;  or  the  land 
was  so  rough  and  poor  that  only  occasional  patches 
would  reward  tillage;  or  for  various  other  causes,  the 
families  were  but  few,  and  far  distant  from  each 
other,  it  was  a  very  difficult  matter  for  the  people  to 
leave  their  homes  day  after  day  to  attend  a  continuous 
meeting.  Hence,  among  other  religious  gatherings,  they 
had  long  been  accustomed  to  hold  what  were  called 
hnskei -meetings. 

These  meetings  involved  less  labor  and  trouble 
than  camp-meetings,  and  could  often  be  held  where 
Mich  a  meeting  would  be  impossible.  They  were  usu- 
ally not  as  large,  and  did  not  continue  as  many  days. 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  61 

They  were  called  "  basket-meetings "  from  the  fact 
that  those  from  a  distance  brought  their  provisions, 
already  cooked,  in  large  baskets,  and  in  quantities 
sufficient  to  last  them  during  the  continuance  of  the 
meeting.  They  put  up  no  tents  or  cabins  on  the 
ground.  They  did  not  cook  or  sleep  there.  They 
most  frequently  commenced  on  Saturday,  and  contin- 
ued through  the  Sabbath.  They  generally  had  a  prayer- 
meeting  and  preaching  on  Saturday  forenoon,  and  then 
adjourned  for  an  hour  or  two.  During  this  intermis- 
sion the  greater  part  of  the.  people  dispersed  in  groups 
among  the  trees,  and  took  their  dinner  after  the  man- 
ner of  a  picnic.  Those  living  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity returned  to  their  homes  for  dinner,  taking  with 
them  as  many  of  those  in  attendance  as  they  could 
possibly  secure.  Every  stranger  was  sure  of  repeated 
invitations  to  dine,  both  with  these  families  and  neigh- 
borhood groups  among  the  trees,  and  at  the  adjacent 
cabins.  After  dinner  they  reassembled  and  had  a  repe- 
tition of  the  services  of  the  morning. 

Unlike  a  camp-meeting,  they  had  no  services  at 
night.  When  the  afternoon  meetings  were  concluded, 
the  people  dispersed  and  spent  the  night  at  the  cabins 
within  two  or  three  miles  around.  All  the  people  in 
these  cabins  usually  kept  open  house  upon  such  an 
occasion.  They  were  present,  and,  after  the  benediction 
was  pronounced,  they  mounted  the  stumps  and  logs 
and  extended  a  general  invitation  to  any  present  to 


/#   TUB  BRUSH. 

the  night  with  them.  Not  satisfied  with  giving 
this  general  invitation,  they  jumped  down  and  went 
among  the  rapidly  dispersing  crowd  and  followed  it 
with  private  personal  solicitations  to  accept  their  prof- 
fered hospitality. 

On  the  Sabbath,  they  reassembled  with  augmented 
numbers,  and  the  services  of  Saturday  were  reenacted, 
with  such  additions  and  variations  as  the  circumstances 
might  demand. 

The  first  basket-meeting  that  I  ever  attended  was 
so  new  and  strange  to  me  in  all  its  incidents,  that, 
though  many  years  have  intervened,  my  recollections 
of  it  are  as  vivid  as  though  it  had  occurred  but  yes- 
terday. It  was  in  a  very  rough,  wild  region.  The 
country  had  been  settled  a  long  time,  so  that  those  in 
attendance  were  genuine  backwoods  people  "  to  the 
manner  born."  The  place  of  meeting  was  in  a  tall, 
dense,  unbroken  forest.  The  underbrush  had  been  cut 
and  cleared  away,  a  few  trees  had  been  so  felled  that 
rude  planks,  made  by  splitting  logs,  could  be  placed 
across  them  for  seats  for  the  ladies,  while  the  men 
mostly  sat  upon  the  trunks  of  other  fallen  trees.  The 
pulpit  or  "stand"  for  the  preacher  was  original  and 
truly  Gothic  in  its  construction.  It  was  made  by  cut- 
ting horizontal  notches  immediately  opposite  to  each 
other,  in  the 'sides  of  two  large  oak-trees,  standing 
about  four  feet  apart,  and  inserting  into  these  notches 
a  board  about  a  foot  wide,  that  had  been  placed  across 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  63 

a  wagon  and  used  for  a  seat  by  some  of  those  present 
in  coming  to  the  meeting.  The  preacher  placed  his 
Bible  and  hymn-book  upon  this  board,  hung  the  indis- 
pensable saddle-bags  in  which  he  had  brought  them 
across  one  end  of  it,  and  so  was  ready  for  the  services. 
I  thought  I  Had  never  seen  in  any  cathedral  a  pulpit 
more  simple  and  grand.  Those  towering,  grand  old 
oaks,  with  their  massive,  outstretching  branches,  spoke 
eloquently  of  the  power  and  grandeur  of  the  God  who 
made  them.  And  yet,  small  and  puny  as  the  preacher 
appeared  in  the  contrast,  it  was  a  fitting  place  for  him 
to  stand  and  proclaim  his  message  to  the  people  who 
worshiped  beneath  them.  Comparatively  unlearned  and 
ignorant  as  he  was,  he  could  tell  them  from  that  open 
Bible  what  they  would  never  learn  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  grand  old  forests,  or  stars,  or  suns,  or  all  the 
sublimest  works  of  nature.  All  these  are  mute  and 
dumb  in  regard  to  the  story  of  the  cross.  However 
they  may  enkindle  our  rapture,  or  excite  our  rever- 
ence, they  will  never  tell  us  how  sin  may  be  forgiven 
— how  the  soul  may  be  saved. 

The  indispensable  matter  in  the  selection  of  grounds 
for  a  basket-meeting  or  a  camp-meeting  in  the  South- 
west was  a  good  spring  of  clear,  running  water.  This 
must  be  so  large  as  to  furnish  an  abundance  of  water, 
not  only  for  all  the  people  who  would  be  present,  but 
for  all  the  horses  necessary  to  transport  themselves 
and  their  provisions  to  the  place  of  meeting.  In  hot 


64  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

weather  the  demands  for  water  were  large,  and  there 
was  need  for  a  "clear  spring"  like  that  so  beautifully 
•  ksi-ribed  by  the  poet  Bryant: 

"...  yon  clear  spring,  that,  midst  its  herbs, 
Wells  softly  forth,  and  wandering,  steeps  the  roots 
Of  half  the  mighty  forest." 

The  sermon  on  this  occasion  was  plain,  sensible, 
and  earnest.  The  preacher  was  superior  to  the  people, 
and  yet  in  all  respects  one  of  them.  He  had  been  born 
in  the  Brush,  raised  in  the  Brush,  and  had  spent 
many  years  in  preaching  to  the  people  in  the  Brush, 
lie  dressed  as  they  dressed,  talked  as  they  talked, 
and,  unconsciously  to  himself,  used  all  their  pro- 
vincialisms in  his  sermons.  In  his  thoughts,  feelings, 
and  manner  of  life  he  was  in  full  sympathy  with  them. 
He  had  toiled  among  them  long,  earnestly,  and  suc- 
cessfully. He  had  preached  to  a  great  many  congre- 
gations, scattered  over  a  wide  extent  of  Brush  coun- 
try. .  He  had  been  associated  with  his  brethren  of 
different  denominations  in  holding  a  great  many  union 
basket-meetings  similar  to  the  one  now  in  progress. 
He  was  widely  known,  beloved,  and  honored.  Per- 
haps the  most  widely  known,  honored,  and  successful 
pastorate  in  the  country  has  been  that  of  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  Gardner  Spring,  in  New  York.  But  I  do 
not  think  that  Dr.  Spring,  with  all  his  talents,  cult- 
ure, and  learning,  could  possibly  have  been  as  useful, 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  65 

as  successful,  as  honored  among  these  people,  as  was 
this  preacher.  He  could  not  have  eaten  their  coarse 
food,  slept  in  their  wretched  beds,  mingled  with  them 
in  their  daily  life,  or  been  in  such  complete  sympathy 
with  them  in  their  poverty,  struggles,  temptations,  and 
modes  of  thought,  as  to  have  so  won  their  love  and 
reverence,  and  led  them  in  such  numbers  to  the  cross 
of  Christ.  "  There  are  diversity  of  gifts,  but  the  same 
spirit,"  etc.  I  honor  these  noble  and  heroic  workers  in 
the  Master's  vineyard,  who  thus  toil  on  in  the  Brush, 
through  scores  of  years,  all  unknown  to  fame.  Many 
of  them  know  nothing  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew, 
but  they  know  how  to  win  souls  to  Christ,  and  the 
highest  authority  has  said,  "  He  that  winneth  souls  is 
wise." 

That  congregation,  when  assembled,  seated,  and  en- 
gaged in  their  devotions,  presented  a  scene  not  to  be 
forgotten.  The  preacher,  small  in  stature,  stood  upon 
a  rude  platform  at  the  feet  of  the  massive  columns  of 
his  pulpit.  The  people  were  seated  among  the  stand- 
ing trees,  upon  seats  arranged  without  any  of  the 
usual  regularity  and  order,  but  lying  at  all  points  of 
the  compass  just  as  they  had  been  able  to  fall,  the 
smaller  trees  among  the  larger  ones.  The  voice  of 
prayer  and  song  ascended  amid  those  massive,  tower- 
ing columns,  crowned  with  arches  formed  by  their  out- 
stretching branches,  and  covered  with  dense  foliage. 
It  was  the  worship  of  God  in  his  own  temple.  It 


C,6  72V  THE  BRUSH. 

carried  the  thoughts  back  to  many  scenes  not  unlike 
it,  in  the  lives  and  labors  of  Christ  and  his  apostles, 
when  they  preached  and  taught  upon  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  by  the  shores  of  Gennesaret,  and  over  the  hills 
and  valleys  of  Palestine.  It  gave  new  force  and  beauty 
to  the  familiar  words  of  Bryant's  grand  and  noble  "  For- 
est Hymn : " 

"  The  groves  were  God'8  first  temples,  ere  man  learned 
To  hew  the  shaft  and  lay  the  architrave, 
And  spread  the  roof  above  them — ere  he  framed 
The  lofty  vault,  to  gather  and  roll  back 
The  sound  of  anthems ;  in  the  darkling  wood, 
Amid  the  cool  and  silence,  he  knelt  down, 
And  offered  to  the  Mightiest  solemn  thanks 
And  supplication.  .  .  . 
....  Be  it  ours  to  meditate, 
In  these  calm  shades,  thy  milder  majesty, 
And  to  the  beautiful  order  of  thy  works 
Learn  to  conform  the  order  of  our  lives." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  morning  sermon  the 
greater  part  of  the  congregation  dispersed  among  the 
trees  to  take  their  dinner  in  the  manner  I  have  al- 
ready described.  I  was  invited  to  go  with  the  preacher 
to  a  cabin  about  a  mile  distant,  where  we  were  to 
have  our  home  during  the  meeting.  We  mounted 
our  horses  and  accompanied  our  host  through  the 
woods  to  his  residence.  As  I  looked  back,  I  saw  that 
we  were  followed  by  some  forty  or  more  other  guests. 
On  reaching  his  home  I  found  three  buildings— a  log- 
house,  log-kitchen,  and  log-stable.  Our  horses  were 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  67 

put  in  the  stable  and  bountifully  fed  with  corn  in 
the  ear  and  fodder.  "  Fodder "  in  these  regions  has 
a  limited  signification,  and  is  applied  only  to  the  leaves 
which  are  stripped  from  the  corn-stalks,  tied  in  small 
bundles,  and  generally  stacked  for  preservation.  The 
stalks  are  not  cut,  as  in  the  North  and  East,  but  the 
leaves  are  stripped  from  them  while  standing.  This 
is  the  usual  feed  for  horses  in  the  place  of  hay. 

The  house  was  similar  to  all  log-houses,  but,  as  our 
company  was  so  numerous,  I  had  the  curiosity  to  ask 
our  host  how  large  it  was,  and  lie  told  me  that  he  cut 
the  logs  just  twenty  feet  long.  Its  single  room  was, 
therefore,  less  than  twenty  feet  square.  We,  however, 
received  a  warm  and  cordial  welcome,  and  host,  hostess, 
and  guests  seemed  exceedingly  happy.  With  a  part 
of  the  company.  I  was  soon  invited  into  the  adjoining 
house  to  dinner.  This  was  much  smaller — not  more 
than  ten  or  fifteen  feet  square.  A  loom  in  one  corner 
filled  a  large  part  of  the  room.  This  was  a  very  im- 
portant part  of  their  household  treasures,  as  the  greater 
portion  of  the  clothing  of  the  entire  family  was  woven 
upon  it.  A  long,  narrow  table,  of  home  construction, 
occupied  the  space  between  the  foot  of  the  loom  and 
the  wall.  There  was  a  large  fireplace  in  front,  before 
which  the  coffee  was  smoking.  A  chair  at  each  end 
and  a  bench  on  each  side  of  the  table  furnished  seats 
for  ten  guests.  Our  bill  of  fare  was  cold  barbecued 
shoat,  sweet  potatoes  roasted  in  the  ashes,  bread,  honey, 


6g  IN  TEE  BRUSH. 

and  coffee.  Our  honey  was  from  a  "bee  tree,"  and 
our  bread  was  of  the  Graham  variety,  from  the  neces- 
sities of  the  case.  The  wheat  had  been  ground  at  a 
"horse  mill"  in  the  neighborhood,  where  they  had 
no  arrangements  for  separating  the  bran  from  the 
flour.  Such  a  dinner  was  not  to  be  despised  by 
hungry  men.  By  the  way,  I  have  found  that  over  a 
very  wide  extent  of  our  country  the  men,  on  such 
occasions,  always  eat  first  and  alone,  the  women  mean- 
while standing  around  the  table  and  waiting  upon 
them.  After  we  had  finished  our  dinner,  the  table 
was  rapidly  reset  by  the  aid  of  the  "sisters"  present, 
and  ten  more  guests  took  their  seats  and  dined.  The 
same  course  was  repeated  until  the  table  was  set  five 
times,  and  fifty  persons  had  dined  bountifully  in  that 
little  log-cabin. 

Having  all  dined,  we  returned  to  the  preaching 
"  stand,"  and  the  congregation  reassembled.  I  preached 
to  them  at  4  p.  M.,  and  all  the  services  were  conducted 
to  the  close  in  a  manner  not  essentially  different  from 
preaching  services  elsewhere. 

The  audience  was  dismissed  for  the  night,  and  dis- 
persed among  the  nearest  cabins.  My  clerical  friend 
and  myself  were  joined  by  a  young  licentiate,  and  re- 
turned to  spend  the  night  at  the  house  at  which  we 
had  dined.  The  company  was  not  as  large  as  that  at 
dinner,  but  to  one  inexperienced  in  such  life,  as  I 
then  was,  it  was  beyond  my  comprehension  how  they 


OLD-TIME  BASKET  MEETINGS.  69 

could  be  entertained  for  the  night.  My  experience 
and  observation  at  dinner  had  shown  me  how  we 
could  get  through  with  our  supper.  A  succession  of 
tables  I  understood,  but  how  could  that  be  applied  to 
sleeping  arrangements?  A  succession  of  beds  was  a 
kind  of  "  succession "  I  had  never  heard  or  read  of 
in  ecclesiastical  or  any  other  history.  But  my  perplexi- 
ties were  evidently  not  felt  by  any  one  else  in  the 
company,  and  I  dismissed  them. 

All  seemed  as  happy  as  they  could  well  be.  Con- 
versation was  animated.  All  tongues  were  loosed, 
There  were  stories  of  former  basket  and  other  meet- 
ings, of  wonderful  revivals,  and  of  remarkable  con- 
versions. There  were  reminiscences  of  eccentric  and 
favorite  preachers  who  had  labored  among  them  long 
years  before.  There  was  the  greatest  variety  of  real 
Western  and  Southwestern  religious  melodies  and 
songs.  These  were  interspersed  with  the  conversation 
during  the  evening,  and  were  the  source  of  great  and 
unfailing  interest  and  joy.  So  the  hours  rolled  on, 
and  all  were  happy.  It  was  the  occasion  to  which 
they  had  looked  forward,  and  for  which  they  had 
planned  for  months — the  great  occasion  of  all  the  year, 
and  it  brought  no  disappointment.  For  myself,  I 
must  say  that  if  I  ever  drew  upon  my  stores  of  anec- 
dote, and  whatever  powers  of  entertaining  I  may  pos* 
sess,  it  was  upon  this  occasion.  I  was  quite  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  general  joy  and  good  feeling.  During 
4 


70 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


the  evening  one  and  another  had  called  for  the  sing- 
ing of  different  religious  songs  that  were  their  favor- 
ites. On  such  occasions  there  was  a  general  appeal 
to  a  young  lady,  who  was  quite  the  best  singer  in  the 
company,  to  know  if  she  knew  the  song  called  for ; 
and  if  she  did  it  was  sung.  At  length  a  hymn  was 
called  for,  and  in  response  to  the  usual  appeal  she 
said  she  did  not  know  it.  I  opened  a  book,  found  the 
hymn  and  tune,  handed  it  to  her,  and  said,  "  Here  is 
the  hymn  with  the  tune.  Perhaps  you  can  sing  it." 

She  dech'ned  to  take  the  book,  saying,  with  the 
utmost  frankness,  "Oh!  sir,  I  can't  read." 

I  now  learned  to  my  amazement  that  all  the 
hymns  and  tunes  she  had  sung  that  evening  she  had 
learned  by  rote — learned  by  hearing  them  sung  by 
others.  She  was  a  young  lady,  some  eighteen  or 
twenty  years  old,  of  more  than  common  beauty  of 
face  and  form,  and  yet  she  had  no  hesitation  at  all 
in  revealing  the  fact  that  she  could  not  read.  I  after- 
ward received  a  similar  shock  on  remarking  to  a 
young  lady  that  I  met  at  a  county-seat,  whose  home 
I  had  previously  visited,  "I  understand  that  a  number 
of  the  young  ladies  in  your  neighborhood  can  not 
read." 

"  Oh ! "  said  she,  "  there  are  only  two  young  ladies 
there  that  can  read." 

I  afterward  visited  many  neighborhoods  where  it 
was  as  proper  to  ask  a  young  lady  if  she  could  read 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  71 

as  it  was  to  ask  for  a  drink  of  water,  the  time  of 
day,  or  any  other  question. 

At  length  the  evening  passed,  and  the  hour  for 
rest  and  sleep  came.  One  of  our  number  "took  the 
books"  and  led  our  evening  devotions.  A  chapter 
was  read,  our  final  hymn  was  sung,  and  we  all  bowed 
in  prayer  around  that  family  altar.  As  we  arose 
from  our  knees,  the  brethren  present  all  walked  out 
of  doors.  The  sisters  remained  within.  Some  "Mar- 
tha "  among  them  had  enumerated  our  company. 
There  were  three  beds  in  the  cabin.  These  were  di- 
vided, and  a  sufficient  number  of  beds  made  up  on  the 
bedsteads  and  over  the  cabin-floor  to  furnish  a  sleep- 
ing-place for  all  our  company.  This  accomplished, 
some  signal — I  know  not  what — was  given,  and  the 
brethren  returned  to  the  house.  I  followed  them. 
The  sisters  were  all  in  bed,  upon  the  bedsteads,  with 
their  heads  covered  up  by  the  blankets.  We  got  into 
our  beds  as  though  these  blankets  had  been  thick  walls. 
.Our  numbers  in  this  room  included  three  young  ladies, 
a  man  and  his  wife  and  child,  and  six  other  men. 

When  we  awoke  in  the  morning  some  of  the 
brethren  engaged  in  conversation  for  a  time,  until  Mr. 

W ,  the  preacher,  remarked,  "I  suppose  it  is  time 

to  think  about  getting  up." 

At  this  signal  the  sisters  covered  their  heads  again 
with  their  blankets,  and  we  arose,  dressed,  and  de- 
parted. My  companion  for  the  night  was  the  young 


72 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


licentiate ;  and  as  we  walked  toward  the  stable  to  look 
after  our  horses— the  first  thing  usually  done  in  the 
morning  by  persons  journeying  on  horseback — I  re- 
marked to  him,  "Last  night  has  been  something  new 
in  my  experience.  I  never  slept  in  that  way  before." 

He  looked  at  me  with  an  expression  of  the  pro- 
foundest  astonishment,  and  exclaimed,  "  You  haven't !  " 

I  said  no  more.  I  saw  that  I  was  the  verdant  one. 
I  was  the  only  one  in  all  the  company  to  whom  the 
experiences  of  the  night  suggested  a  thought  of  any- 
thing unusual  or  strange.  So  trite  and  true  it  is  that 
"one  half  of  the  world  does  not  know  how  the  other 
half  lives." 

The  Sabbath  was  the  "great  day  of  the  feast."  Jt 
brought  together  some  three  or  four  hundred  people — 
a  very  large  congregation  in  such  a  sparsely  settled 
country.  I  made  an  address  to  them  in  the  morning, 
explaining  the  extended  operations  of  the  American 
Bible  Society  in  our  own  and  other  lands.  I  told 
them  that  the  Society  was  then  attempting  to  place 
a  copy  of  the  Word  of  God  in  every  family  in  our 

country;  that  Mr.  K ,  a  venerable  and  honored 

class-leader,  had  been  appointed  to  canvass  their 
county ;  and  that  either  by  sale  or  gift  he  would  sup- 
ply every  family  in  the  county  with  the  Bible  that 
would  receive  it.  All  of  these  facts  were  new  to  the 
most  of  them,  and  were  listened  to  witli  the  greatest 
interest.  Large  numbers  of  them  had  no  Bibles  in 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  73 

their  families ;  they  were  more  than  sixty  miles  from 
a  book-store,  which  many  of  them  never  visited,  and 
they  were  glad  to  have  the  Bible  brought  to  their 
own  doors,  and  furnished  to  them  at  so  small  a  price. 
By  making  these  statements  I  gave  the  Bible-distributor 
an  introduction  to  the  people  scattered  over  a  wide 
extent  of  country,  which  prepared  them  to  welcome 
him  to  their  families  and  greatly  facilitated  his  labors. 

My  brief  address  was  followed  by  a  sermon  entirely 
different  from  those  of  the  preacher  I  have  already 
described,  and  deserves  notice  as  a  type  of  thousands 
that  are  preached  to  the  people  in  the  Brush.  Scarcely 
a  sentence  in  the  sermon  was  uttered  in  the  usual 
method  of  speech.  It  was  drawled  out  in  a  sing-song 
tone  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  The  preacher  ran 
his  voice  up,  and  sustained  it  at  so  high  a  pitch  that  he 
could  make  but  little  variation  of  voice  upward.  The 
air  in  his  lungs  would  become  exhausted,  and  at  the 
conclusion  of  every  sentence  he  would  "catch"  his 
breath  with  an  "ah."  As  he  proceeded  with  his  ser- 
mon, and  his  vocal  organs  became  wearied  with  this 
most  unnatural  exertion,  the  "ah"  was  repeated  more 
and  more  frequently,  until,  with  the  most  painful  con- 
tortions of  face  and  form,  he  would  with  difficulty  artic- 
ulate, in  his  sing-song  tone  : 

"  Oh,  my  beloved  brethren — ah,  and  sisters — ah,  you 
have  all  got  to  die — ah,  and  be  buried — ah,  and  go  to 
the  judgment — ah,  and  stand  before  the  great  white 


74  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

throne— ah,  and  receive  your  rewards— ah,  for  the  deeds 
—ah,  done  in  the  body— ah." 

From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  sermon,  which 
occupied  just  an  hour  and  ten  minutes  by  my  watch, 
I  could  not  see  the  slightest  evidence  that  he  had 
any  idea  what  he  was  going  to  say  from  one  sentence 
to  another.  While  "catching  his  breath,"  and  saying 
"nh,"  he  seemed  to  determine  what  he  would  say  next. 
There  was  no  more  train  of  thought  or  connection  of 
ideas  than  in  the  harangue  of  a  maniac.  And  yet  many 
hundreds  of  such  sermons  are  preached  in  the  Brush, 
and  I  am  sorry  to  add  that  thousands  of  the  people  had 
rather  hear  these  sermons  than  any  others.  This  "  holy 
tone"  has  charms  for  them  not  possessed  by  any  pos- 
sible eloquence.  As  the  preacher  "  warms  up "  and 
becomes  more  animated  in  the  progress  of  his  discourse, 
the  more  impressible  sisters  begin  to  move  their  heads 
and  bodies,  and  soon  all  the  devout  brethren  and  sisters 
sway  their  bodies  back  and  forth  in  perfect  unison, 
keeping  time,  in  some  mysterious  manner,  to  his  sing- 
song tone. 

It  seemed  sad  to  me  that  such  a  congregation,  gath- 
ered from  such  long  distances,  should  have  the  morning 
hour  occupied  with  such  a  sermon.  But  it  was  a  union 
meeting,  the  preacher  was  the  representative  of  his 
denomination,  and  they  would  have  gone  away  worse 
than  disappointed— grievously  outraged — if  they  could 
not  have  heard  this  sermon  with  the  "holy  tone." 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  75 

But  our  basket- meeting  was  to  be  signalized  by 
an  incident  always  interesting  in  all  countries,  in  all 
grades  of  society,  among  the  most  rustic  as  well  as 
among  the  most  refined.  After  the  benediction,  a  part 
of  the  congregation  who  were  in  the  secret  remained 
upon  their  seats,  casting  knowing  and  pleasant  glances 

at  each  other.     My  friend  "W ,  who,  like  a  good 

many  other  preachers,  and  some  preachers'  wives, 
had  faithfully  kept  a  secret  that  a  good  many  were 
"  just  dying  to  know,"  took  his  position  in  front  of 
the  "stand."  A  trembling,  blushing,  but  happy  pair 
advanced  from  the  crowd,  and  took  their  position 
before  him.  The  groom  produced  from  his  pocket 
the  indispensable  license.  The  dispersing  crowd,  hav- 
ing by  some  electric  influence  been  apprised  of  what 
was  going  on,  came  rushing  back,  and  mounted  the 
surrounding  stumps  and  logs,  forming  a  standing  back- 
ground to  the  sitting  circle.  All  looked  on  and  lis- 
tened in  silence,  while  the  preacher  in  a  strong,  clear 
voice  proceeded  to  solemnize  the  marriage  and  pro- 
nounce them  husband  and  wife.  The  scene  was  strange 
and  strikingly  impressive.  It  seemed  a  wedding  in 
Nature's  own  cathedral.  The  day  was  perfect.  Some 
rays  from  the  sun  penetrated  the  dense  foliage  above 
and  fell  upon  the  scene,  mingling  golden  hues  with 
the  shadows,  as  the  poet,  the  recently  deceased  A.  B. 
Street,  has  so  beautifully  described : 


YO  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

"  Here  showers  the  sun  in  golden  dots, 
Here  rests  the  shade  in  ebon  spots, 
So  blended  that  the  very  air 
Seems  network  as  I  enter  here." 

After  the  usual  congratulations  and  kisses  the  groom 
withdrew,  and  reappeared  in  a  few  moments  mounted 
upon  a  large  gray  horse.  The  bride,  having  gained  the 
top  of  a  stump,  mounted  his  horse  behind  him,  and 
the  two  rode  away,  as  happy  and  satisfied  as  they  could 
well  be. 

The  larger  congregation  of  the  Sabbath  made  larger 
demands  upon  their  hospitality;  but  these  demands 
were  fully  met.  The  dinner,  both  under  the  trees  and 
at  the  cabins,  was  but  a  reenactment  of  the  scenes  of 
the  day  before  on  an  enlarged  scale. 

In  the  afternoon  Mr.  W preached  a  sensible 

and  earnest  sermon,  like  that  of  the  day  before.  In 
my  pocket-diary,  written  at  the  time,  I  have  charac- 
terized it  as  a  "thundering  sermon."  His  voice  was 
strong,  and  capable  of  reaching  the  largest  congrega- 
tions that  he  addressed  in  the  open  air.  This  sermon 
concluded  the  services  of  the  basket-meeting.  As  the 
benediction  was  pronounced,  three  gentlemen  on  horse- 
back arrived  upon  the  ground.  '  They  were  a  presiding 
elder,  a  circuit-rider,  and  a  class-leader,  on  their  way 
to  conference.  They  had  preached  some  fifteen  miles 
away  in  the  morning,  and  continued  their  journey  to 
reach  this  meeting.  I  knew  them  all,  and  had  preached 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  77 

•with  and  for  them  at  their  homes.  As  they  were 
strangers  to  most,  if  not  all,  the  people,  I  introduced 
them  to  the  clergymen  and  others  present.  They  were 
some  twenty  miles  from  any  hotel  or  public-house,  and 
of  course  must  spend  the  night  with  some  of  these 
people.  My  host,  to  whom  I  had  introduced  them, 
said : 

"  I  should  be  very  glad  to  have  you  all  stay  with  me, 
but  I  can't  take  care  of  your  horses.  I  have  a  plenty  of 
houseroom,  but  my  stable  is  full." 

From  what  I  have  already  said  of  the  numbers  who 
dined  and  lodged  with  him,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  had 
very  enlarged  ideas  of  the  capacity  of  his  house.  An 
enthusiastic  neighbor,  who  was  about  as  rough  a  looking 
specimen  of  a  backwoodsman  as  I  ever  saw,  stepped 
forward  and  said : 

"  I  have  room  enough  for  your  horses  and  you  too. 
I  should  be  glad  to  have  you  all  go  with  me." 

The  presiding  elder  went  with  him,  but  the  preacher 
and  the  class-leader  were  claimed  by  others. 

Before  leaving  the  grounds,  it  was  arranged  between 
us  that  we  should  all  meet  at  a  designated  place  in  the 
morning,  and  I  would  travel  with  them  to  the  confer- 
ence, to  which  I  was  thus  far  on  my  way.  Though  not 
an  Arminian,  but  a  Calvinist,  though  not  a  Methodist, 
but  a  Presbyterian,  I  knew  that  a  cordial  welcome  await- 
ed me  as  a  representative  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 
I  knew  that,  in  addition  to  this  official  welcome,  I  should 


78  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

receive  the  warm  greetings  of  brethren  beloved,  with 
whom  I  had  traveled  many  hundreds  of  miles  over  their 
"  circuits,"  and  mingled  in  all  the  novel,  interesting,  and 
eventful  scenes  in  their  wild  itinerant  life.  When  I  met 
the  elder  the  next  morning,  I  asked  him  the  nature  of 
the  very  ample  accommodations  that  were  offered  him. 
He  said  he  slept  upon  the  floor,  but  he  did  not  under- 
take to  count  the  number  who  shared  it  with  him. 

So  ended  the  various  incidents  of  our  basket-meet- 
ing ;  but  the  recollection  of  it  has  been  among  the  pleas- 
ant memories  of  my  life  in  the  Brush. 

SOME   EXPLANATORY   WORDS. 

Perhaps  some  statement  in  explanation  of  this 
"  rough  "  but  abounding  hospitality  of  the  people  in  the 
Brush  is  demanded  in  justice  to  those  persons  and 
places  whose  hospitality  would  seem  to  suffer  in  the 
contrast.  I  might  enumerate  many  circumstances  con- 
nected with  life  in  a  wild,  unsettled  country  that  will 
occur  to  most  readers  as  the  cause  of  this  abounding 
hospitality ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  chief  reason 
is  the  fact  that  meat,  bread,  and  all  their  provisions, 
excepting  groceries,  cost  them  so  very  little.  They  es- 
timate what  they  can  use  scarcely  more  than  the  water 
taken  from  their  springs.  Beef,  pork,  and  bread  cost 
them  almost  nothing.  Their  cattle  run  at  large,  and 
their  free  range  includes  thousands  of  acres  of  unoccu- 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  79 

pied  lands.  They  grow  and  increase  in  this  manner 
with  but  little  attention  or  care.  The  hogs  find  their 
food  in  the  woods  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and  in 
the  fall  they  fatten  upon  the  nuts  or  "  mast."  The  oak, 
hickory,  beech,  and  other  trees  that  abound  in  these 
extensive  forests  afford  vast  quantities  of  these  nuts, 
which  these  people  claim  for  their  own  hogs,  whoever 
may  own  the  land.  I  knew  a  man  that  owned  several 
thousand  acres  of  these  lands,  who  sold  the  nuts  on  the 
ground  to  a  "  speculator,"  who  drove  his  hogs  upon  the 
tract  of  land  to  eat  them.  But  the  residents  were  in- 
censed at  this  trespass  upon  their  immemorial  privileges, 
and  secretly  shot  and  killed  so  many  of  these  hogs  that 
their  owner  was  glad  to  escape  with  any  part  of  his 
drove,  and  leave  them  possessors  of  the  "  mast."  The 
method  by  which  these  people  retain  and  recognize  their 
ownership  in  the  hogs  that  run  at  large  and  mingle  to- 
gether in  the  woods  was  quite  new  to  me.  The  owner 
looks  carefully  after  the  young  pigs,  calls  them,  and 
feeds  them,  for  some  days  or  weeks,  until  they  know  his 
voice,  and  will  come  at  his  call.  Whatever  kind  of  a 
hoot,  scream,  or  yell  it  is,  they  learn  to  associate  it  with 
their  food,  and  run  at  the  sound.  Sometimes  the  owner 
merely  blows  a  horn.  If  a  hundred  hogs  belonging 
to  half  a  dozen  men  are  feeding  together  in  the  woods, 
and  their  owners  sound  their  calls  from  different  hills, 
the  hogs  will  separate  and  rush  in  the  direction  of  the 
sound  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed.  In  this 


80 


IN  TEE  BRUSH. 


manner  these  people  secure  for  their  families,  with  but 
little  trouble,  the  most  abundant  supply  of  bacon.  The 
corn,  which  furnishes  the  most  of  their  bread,  is  raised 
with  but  little  labor.  After  it  is  planted  it  is  plowed 
or  cultivated,  and  "laid  by  "  without  any  hoeing  at  all. 
If  they  have  enough  to  feed  their  hogs  a  short  time  be- 
fore killing  them,  they  do  not  gather  this,  but  turn  the 
hogs  into  the  corn-fields,  and  let  them  help  themselves. 
The  drought  that  caused  the  famine  in  Kansas,  in  the 
early  history  of  that  State,  extended  over  this  region. 
As  the  breadth  of  ground  planted  here  was  so  much 
greater,  the  results  were  not  so  sad.  But  there  was  a 
scarcity  of  corn  such  as  the  people  had  never  known  be- 
fore. The  price  advanced  from  twenty  and  twenty-five 
cents  a  bushel  to  a  dollar  and  upward,  and  many  were 
unable  to  procure  enough  to  make  bread  for  their  fam- 
ilies. But  the  "mast"  was  abundant  that  fall,  and 
there  was  no  lack  of  bacon.  I  visited  many  families 
that  lived  almost  entirely  on  meat.  During  the  winter 
I  met  a  physician  who  told  me  that  in  his  ride  among 
the  hills  he  found  whole  families  afflicted  with  a  disease 
that  was  entirely  new  in  his  experience.  Upon  consult- 
ing his  books,  he  found  it  was  scurvy,  the  result  of  liv- 
ing upon  little  besides  bacon. 

With  this  usually  abundant  supply  of  food,  which 
on  account  of  the  bad  roads  and  the  distance  from  mar- 
ket has  but  little  pecuniary  value ;  with  houses  and  ac- 
commodations such  as  I  have  described ;  with  but  few 


OLD-TIME  BASKET-MEETINGS.  81 

books,  newspapers,  and  other  kinds  of  reading ;  with  a 
dearth  of  the  excitements  and  amusements  of  the  outside 
world,  it  is  not  so  strange  or  wonderful  that  they  are 
eager  for  pleasures  and  enjoyments  that  involve  these 
displays  of  hospitality. 

I  know  that  my  statements  often  appear  incredible  to 
many  of  my  readers.  But  I  trust  that,  after  these  "  ex- 
planatory words,"  I  shall  not  tax  too  largely  either  the 
faith  of  my  readers  or  my  own  character  for  veracity. 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THE    BAPTISM    OF    A    SCOTCH    BABY    IN    THE    WILDS    OF    THE 
SOUTHWEST. 

I  WISH  to  give  my  readers  the  details  of  a  very  pleas- 
ant incident  in  my  experiences,  quite  incidental  to  my 
special"  work.  I  visited  a  small  county-seat  village  in 
a  very  rough,  wild  region,  where  I  had  been  directed  to 
call  upon  a  Methodist  gentleman,  who  would  render  me 
efficient  and  cheerful  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  my  labors. 
I  met  with  the  reception  that  had  been  promised,  and 
made  arrangements  to  preach  "  on  the  next  day,  which 
was  the  Sabbath."  As  the  agents  of  the  American  Bible 
Society  are  chosen  from  the  different  religious  denomi- 
nations, they  very  naturally  asked  me  with  what  church 
I  was  connected.  When  told  that  I  was  a  Presbyterian, 
the  gentleman  and  his  wife  turned  at  once  to  each  other, 
a  smile  of  unusual  joy  overspreading  their  features,  and 
the  lady,  who  was  the  first  to  speak,  said  : 

"  Well,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dinwiddie  will  be  gratified  at 
last." 

The  conversation  that  followed,  and  other  visits  and 


A  BAPTISM  IN  TEE  SOUTHWEST.  83 

conversations  in  the  neighborhood,  fully  explained  their 
joy  at  seeing  me.  The  gentleman  and  lady  alluded  to 
were  Scotch  Presbyterians,  who  had  been  in  this  country 
but  a  few  years,  and  they  were  very  anxious  to  have 
their  first-born  child  baptized  by  a  minister  of  their  own 
church.  They,  and  a  venerable  man  eighty-four  years 
old,  who  had  recently  come  from  a  distant  part  of  the 
State  to  spend  his  declining  years  in  the  family  of  a 
widowed  daughter,  were  the  only  persons  in  the  county 
connected  with  that  church,  and  they  knew  not  when 
they  might  be  favored  with  a  visit  from  one  of  their 
own  ministers.  But,  judging  from  the  past  history  of 
the  county,  their  prospects  were  dark  indeed.  A  vener- 
ated father  in  this  church,  who  was  alive  at  the  time  of 
my  visit,  but  has  since  gone  to  his  reward,  had  preached 
in  this  county  more  than  thirty  years  before  on  one  of 
his  missionary  excursions  through  the  State.  I  met 
those  who  had  heard  him  preach  and  remembered  his 
sermons.  As  far  as  could  be  ascertained,  he  was  the  last 
Presbyterian  clergyman  who  had  visited  and  preached  in 
the  county,  and  they  knew  not  when  to  expect  another. 
I  subsequently  saw  this  venerable  preacher,  and  received 
from  his  own  lips  most  interesting  details  of  his  explor- 
ations of  these  wild  regions  so  many  years  before. 

A  week  or  two  passed  before  I  was  able  to  visit  this 
family,  during  which  time  I  preached  in  rude  log  school- 
houses,  in  a  ballroom,  a  court-house,  from  a  "stand" 
erected  for  the  purpose  in  the  forest,  and  also  standing 


on 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 

terra  firma  at  the  foot  of  an  oak-tree,  the  congrega- 
tion being  seated  upon  benches,  or  on  the  ground,  under 
the  shade  of  surrounding  oaks.  In  the  different  neigh- 
borhoods that  I  visited,  I  found  the  same  general  inter- 
est in  behalf  of  this  family  and  their  child.  According 
to  a  Scottish  custom,  they  would  not  call  their  child  by 
the  name  that  had  been  chosen  for  it  until  that  name 
had  been  given  to  it  in  the  sacred  rite  of  baptism. 
When  asked  by  their  neighbors  the  name  of  their  child, 
they  would  reply,  "  Oh,  she  has  no  name.  She  has  not 
been  baptized  yet.  "We  call  her  'Baby,'  or  some  pet 
name."  This  seemed  very  strange  to  the  people,  and 
the  dear  little  child  that  was  growing  up  without  a  name 
besame  the  object  of  general  sympathy  and  interest 
throughout  the  county. 

There  is  quite  a  celebrated  watering-place  (where  my 
mare  won  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars)  some  fifteen 
miles  from  their  forest  home,  and  it  was  thought  that 
there  might  be  some  Presbyterian  clergyman  among  the 
visitors  during  the  summer  season,  and  a  large  number 
of  persons  had  promised  this  family  that  they  would  let 
them  know  if  any  such  clergyman  arrived  at  the  Springs, 
that  they  might  send  for  him  to  baptize  their  child. 

As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  do  so,  I  set  out  to  visit  this 
Scotch  family,  in  whose  history  I  had  become  very 
deeply  interested.  A  Christian  brother,  residing  at  the 
county  -seat  and  belonging  to  another  denomination, 
kindly  consented  to  accompany  me,  and  show  me  the 


A  BAPTISM  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  85 

way  to  their  residence.  Our  route  was  not  over  a  road 
that  had  been  laid  out  by  a  compass,  but  was  the  most 
of  the  way  through  the  woods,  winding  its  zigzag  course 
over  hill,  and  valley,  and  stream,  among  the  tall  mon- 
archs  of  the  forest.  It  was  a  hot  day  in  August,  but  the 
dense  foliage  above  us,  as  we  rode  through  the  "  aisles  of 
the  dim  woods,"  protected  us  from  the  heat  of  the  sun, 
and  our  ride  was  altogether  a  pleasant  one.  After  travel- 
ing some  twelve  or  fifteen  miles,  we  reached  a  "  dead'- 
ning,"  and  soon  were  at  the  door  of  the  log-cabin  we 
were  seeking. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  the  joy  of  that  young 
mother  when  my  attendant  introduced  me  to  her  as  a 
Presbyterian  clergyman,  and  explained  the  object  of  our 
visit.  "  Hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart  sick,  but  when 
the  desire  cometh  it  is  a  tree  of  life."  Years  had  passed 
since,  a  young  and  blooming  bride,  she  had  left  the 
heathery  hills  of  Scotland  for  a  home  in  our  "Western 
wilds  ;  but,  until  that  moment,  she  had  not  seen  a  minis- 
ter of  the  church  of  her  home  and  her  choice  since  the 
day  that  her  loved  pastor  had  solemnized  that  rite  in 
which  she  gave  herself  to  another,  and  sent  her  forth 
with  the  warm  blessings  of  a  pastor's  heart.  The  loneli- 
ness of  their 'forest  home  in  a  land  of  strangers  was  at 
length  cheered  by  the  tiny  echo  of  a  new  and  welcome 
voice  in  their  rude  dwelling.  For  many  long  months 
the  "  joyful  mother "  had  gazed  upon  the  sweet  face  of 
her  lovely  child,  and  longed,  with  unutterable  longings, 


86 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


to  dedicate  her  first-born  to  God  in  his  own  appointed 
ordinance.  As  the  months  rolled  on  and  swelled  to 
years,  the  many  friends  of  her  home  in  Scotland  min- 
gled their  pympathies  with  hers ;  and  the  pastor,  who 
could  not  forget  the  lamb  that  had  thus  gone  forth  from 
his  flock,  expressed  his  strong  desire  to  stretch  his  arms 
across  the  broad  Atlantic,  and  baptize  this  child  of  the 
forest  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  At  the  time  of  our  arrival  the  hus- 
band and  father  was  absent  from  his  house,  attending  to 
lii.s  flocks.  He  was  a  shepherd,  and  had  selected  his 
home  here  because  for  a  small  sum  he  could  purchase  a 
large  tract  of  land  over  which  his  flocks  might  range. 
As  his  wife  did  not  know  in  what  direction  he  had  gone, 
and  lie  could  not  easily  be  found,  we  determined  to  wait 
until  he  should  return. 

In  the  mean  time  we  learned  that  the  young  mother 
we  had  found  in  the  wilds  of  the  Southwest  was  born 
in  the  East  Indies,  and  had  been  sent  to  Scotland  when 
eight  years  old  to  be  educated  among  her  relatives.  "We 
listened  to  the  story  of  the  religious  privileges  they  had 
enjoyed  at  home ;  heard  of  the  old  pastor  who,  for  more 
than  fifty  years,  had  watched  over  the  same  flock,  a  vol- 
ume of  whose  sermons  and  sacramental  addresses  made  a 
part  of  their  library,  and  learned  to  love  the  youthful 
colleague  and  subsequent  pastor.  We  were  shown  what 
was  at  the  same  time  a  certificate  of  marriage  and 
church-membership,  certifying  that  "William  D 


A  BAPTISM  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  87 

and  Mary  B, were  lawfully  married  on  ,  and 

that  they  immediately  thereafter  started  for  America. 
They  were  then  both  in  full  communion  with  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  and  entitled  to  all  church  privi- 
leges." We  were  also  shown  that  most  appropriate  of 
bridal  gifts  from  a  pastor — a  beautiful  Bible,  presented 

as  a  parting  gift  to  "Mrs.  "William  D ,  with  best 

wishes  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare  of  herself 
and  her  husband.  II  Chronicles,  xv,  2 ;  Psalms,  cxxxix, 
1-12."  How  strikingly  appropriate  these  references ! 

At  length  the  father  returned,  and  added  his  warm 
welcome  and  greeting  to  that  we  had  already  received 
from  the  mother.  They  had  both  evidently  received 
that  thorough  religious  training  so  peculiar  to  their  na- 
tion, and  here,  far  away  from  their  native  heath,  in  their 
wild  forest  home,  it  was  exerting  its  influence,  not  only 
upon  them,  but  upon  many  around  them.  That  very 
morning  a  neighbor  had  sent  them  word  that  a  Pres- 
byterian clergyman  (the  writer)  had  preached  at  the 
Springs  a  few  days  before,  and  at  once  a  younger  brother 
was  dispatched  with  a  large  farm-wagon,  their  only  con- 
veyance, to  bring  the  stranger  to  their  home,  that  he 
might  baptize  their  child.  Our  route  in  going,  and  his 
in  coming  for  me,  were  the  same,  but  we  failed  to  meet 
each  other  on  account  of  the  numerous  tracks  through 
the  woods.  On  reaching  the  county-seat  from  which  we 
had  started  in  the  morning,  he  learned  that,  to  the  joy  of 
the  neighborhood,  we  had  already  left  for  the  purpose  of 


gg  AY  THE  BRUSH. 

baptizing  the  child.  He  immediately  turned  back,  hast- 
ened home,  and  reached  there  soon  after  the  arrival  of 
his  brother.  A  neighbor,  an  old  acquaintance  from  their 
home  in  Scotland,  and  a  family  domestic,  now  made  our 
number  just  that  of  those  to  whom  Noah,  that  "  preacher 
of  righteousness,"  undoubtedly  ministered  after  they  en- 
tered the  ark. 

The  necessary  preparations  for  the  baptism  were  soon 
made.  In  the  center  of  that  low-roofed  cabin  a  cloth  of 
snowy  whiteness  was  spread  upon  a  table,  upon  which  a 
bowl  of  water  was  placed.  That  little  company  then 
arose,  and  reverently  stood  while,  after  a  brief  address  to 
the  parents,  the  simple,  solemn  ordinance  of  baptism  was 
administered,  and  parents,  child,  and  friends  far  away, 
were  commended  in  prayer  to  a  "  covenant-keeping " 
God.  The  sacred  stillness  of  that  calm  evening  hour, 
the  associations  of  a  home  far  away,  and  the  tender  mem- 
ories of  the  instructions  of  other  years  that  clustered 
around  these  strangers,  rendered  the  simple  service  most 
impressive,  and  pervaded  all  with  solemn  awe.  "We 
could  but  feel  that  he  who  had  said  to  Abraham,  "  I  will 
be  a  God  to  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee,  in  their 
generations,  forever,"  had  "bowed  the  heavens  and  come 
down?';and  that  he  would  ratify  in  heaven  what  had 
now  been  done  on  earth  in  the  name  of  the  Sacred  Trin- 
ity. The  happy  mother  pressed  her  fair-faced,  beautiful 
child  to  her  bosom  with  unwonted  joy,  and  never  did 
the  sweet  name  Mary  sound  sweeter  than  when,  with 


A   BAPTISM  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  89 

maternal  fondness,  she  gazed  into  its  clear  blue  eyes,  and 
again  and  again,  with  alternate  kisses,  called  her  "  Sweet 
Mary,"  "My  Mary." 

This  was  my  first  baptism  ;  and  the  privilege  of  ad- 
ministering this  Heaven-ordained  rite,  in  circumstances 
like  these,  was  compensation  for  months  and  years  of 
such  toils  as  they  must  endure  who  labor  amid  the  moral 
desolations  of  our  Western  wilds. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BAEBECIJES;     AND     A     BAKBECUE    WEDDING-  FEAST     IN    THE 
SOUTHWEST. 

THE  barbecue  was  an  established  institution  in  the 
Southwest.  It  had  in  no  other  part  of  the  country  so 
many  devotees.  There  was  a  charm  in  the  name  that 
would  at  any  time  call  together  a  large  concourse  of  peo- 
ple, on  the  shortest  notice,  and  for  any  occasion.  And 
the  savory  smell  of  roasted  ox,  sheep,  shoats,  turkeys, 
rabbits,  or  whatever  else  was  prepared  to  appease  the  ap- 
petite of  a  crowd,  would  keep  them  together  to  hear  the 
longest  political  speeches,  listen  to  the  most  protracted 
school  examinations,  give  their  attention  to  the  most 
elaborate  expositions  of  the  importance  of  some  project- 
ed turnpike  or  railroad,  and  secure  a  patient  waiting  and 
an  unbroken  audience  on  any  occasion  when  the  'barbe- 
cue feast  was  to  be  the  agreeable  conclusion. 

I  have  a  most  distinct  and  vivid  recollection  of  my 
first  view  of  the  process  of  barbecuing  a  whole  ox.  At 
the  close  of  a  long,  hot  day's  ride,  I  had  stopped  to 
spend  the  night  at  a  small  and  very  inferior  country 


A  BARBECUE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  91 

tavern.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  road,  immedi- 
ately in  front  of  it,  there  was  a  large  forest.  As  I 
took  my  accustomed  walk  to  the  stable,  to  see  that 
my  horse  was  properly  fed  and  cared  for,  before  retir- 
ing for  the  night,  I  was  attracted  by  the  glimmerings 
of  a  fire  among  the  tall,  large  forest-trees  in  the  dis- 
tance ;  and  then  I  saw  through  the  darkness  the  dusky 
forms  of  negroes  moving  among  the  trees,  and  hov- 
ering around  some  strangely  concealed  fire,  only  the 
gleams  of  which  I  could  see.  Ordinarily  such  a  light  in 
the  woods  or  at  the  roadside  would  not  have  attracted 
my  attention.  The  sight  was  a  matter  of  daily  and 
nightly  occurrence.  But  it  was  usually  wagoners,  or 
movers,  or  travelers  of  some  kind,  camping  for  the  night 
and  cooking  their  supper.  A  very  large  proportion  of 
the  people  that  one  met  traveling  with  their  own  teams 
in  the  Southwest  were  entirely  independent  of  all  hotels 
and  houses  of  entertainment.  They  had  a  long,  narrow 
box  attached  to  the  hind  end  of  their  wagons,  that 
served  as  a  manger  in  which  to  feed  their  horses.  When 
night  overtook  them,  they  hitched  and  fed  their  horses 
in  the  rear  of  their  wagons.  They  then  lighted  a  fire, 
and  needed  little  besides  a  frying-pan  and  coffee-pot  to 
prepare  a  supper  of  bacon,  corn-dodgers,  and  coffee,  to 
which  hunger  and  good  digestion  gave  a  relish  such  as 
pampered  and  sated  epicures  never  know.  Almost  in- 
variably their  wagons  were  covered  with  coarse  brown 
duck-cloth  or  canvas,  which  was  stretched  over  hoops,  and, 


92 


7/V  THE  BRUSH. 


if  not  provided  with  tents,  they  made  their  beds  under 
this  covering.  Wagoners  who  transported  goods,  flour, 
and  other  commodities  long  distances,  as  well  as  movers 
and  others,  usually  traveled  in  company,  so  that  whenever 
they  camped  for  the  night,  which  they  usually  aimed  to 
do  near  some  spring  or  brook,  they  presented  a  very 
picturesque  and  animated  scene.  The  view  which  at- 
tracted my  attention  had  none  of  these  accessories  and 
surroundings,  and  I  strolled  into  the  woods  to  see  what 
it  might  be.  On  arriving  at  the  spot  my  curiosity  was 
abundantly  gratified  and  rewarded.  I  saw  for  the  first 
time  an  immense  ox  in  the  process  of  being  barbecued. 
And  this  was  the  process :  A  large  trench  had  been 
dug  in  the  ground,  about  six  or  seven  feet  wide,  eight  or 
ten  feet  long,  and  four  or  five  feet  deep.  This  trench 
had  been  filled  with  the  best  quality  of  beech  or  maple 
wood  from  the  body  of  the  trees.  This  had  been  set  on 
fire  and  burned  until  there  was  left  a  bed  of  burning 
coals,  some  two  or  three  feet  deep,  that  did  not  emit  a 
particle  of  smoke.  The  slaughtered  ox  had  been  laid 
completely  open,  and  two  large  spits,  about  eight  feet 
long,  had  been  thrust  through  each  fore  and  hind  leg 
lengthwise,  and  four  negroes  or  more,  taking  hold  of  the 
ends  of  these  spits,  had  laid  the  ox  over  this  trench  above 
this  bed  of  burning  coals.  There  the  bovine  monarch 
lay,  cooking  as  beautifully  as  in  my  childhood  I  had 
seen  many  a  turkey,  suspended  by  a  long  string,  swing- 
ing before  the  large  wood-fire  that  was  burning  and 


A   BARBECUE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  93 

blazing  upon  the  ample  hearth  of  our  family  kitchen. 
And  it  was  upon  the  same  principle — the  juices  were 
all  cooked  in.  The  negroes  were  gathered  around  the 
ox,  with  large  swabs  upon  long  sticks,  with  which  they 
incessantly  "basted"  it,  with  a  liquid  prepared  for 
this  purpose  and  standing  in  large  kettles  on  either 
side  of  the  trench.  From  time  to  time  the  large  bed 
of  coals  was  stirred,  and  occasionally  they  performed 
the  difficult  feat  of  turning  over  the  entire  ox,  so 
that  each  side  might  be  cooked  at  an  equal  rate  of 
progress.  This  work  they  greatly  enjoyed.  There  was 
enough  of  the  wild  and  strange  about  it  to  gratify 
their  excitable  natures.  For  the  time  being  they  were 
supremely  happy.  The  stillness  of  the  night,  the 
surrounding  darkness,  and  the  gleams  of  that  large  and 
brightly  burning  bed  of  coals  in  the  overhanging  tree-tops, 
gave  to  the  whole  scene  a  weird  character  which  awoke 
all  the  enthusiasm  of  their  untutored  natures.  Through 
the  long  night  they  cheerfully  plied  their  task,  stirring 
up  from  the  depths  the  live  burning  coals,  and  "  basting  " 
and  turning  the  ox  as  of  ten  as  was  necessary.  Frequent- 
ly they  sang  those  strange,  wild  African  songs  that  they 
are  accustomed  to  improvise  while  at  work  and  upon 
all  kinds  of  occasions,  and  as  they  echoed  among  the 
forest-trees  and  floated  out  upon  the  night-air,  the  soft, 
sweet  melody  was  most  enchanting.  As  I  left  to  go  to 
my  room  for  the  night,  and  turned  to  look  back  upon 
them  from  the  darkness,  the  strange  scene  seemed  not 


94  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

unlike  a  company  of  Druid  priests  offering  a  sacrificial 
victim  in  some  grand  old  English  forest.  In  the  morn- 
ing I  made  them  another  visit.  Many  of  the  coals  had 
turned  to  ashes,  and  the  bed  was  much  reduced  in  depth. 
But  when  the  negroes  put  in  their  long  poles,  they 
stirred  up  an  abundance  of  bright  coals  from  the  bot- 
tom. The  ox,  which  had  been  placed  over  the  fire  at 
sundown  the  night  before,  was  to  be  cooked  until  noon, 
when  the  grand  barbecue  dinner  was  to  be  eaten.  The 
smaller  animals,  such  as  sheep  and  shoats  and  the  va- 
rious kinds  of  poultry,  were  to  be  placed  over  the  fire 
in  time  to  be  nicely  cooked  by  this  hour.  At  that 
time  every  portion  of  the  ox  would  be  thoroughly 
done  to  the  bone ;  not  baked  and  burned  and  dried,  but 
made  more  juicy  and  tender  and  sweet  than  any  one 
has  ever  once  dreamed  that  the  best  of  beef  could  be 
who  lias  not  eaten  it  cooked  in  this  manner.  I  have 
never,  at  the  most  magnificent  hotels,  or  the  most  lux- 
urious private  tables,  eaten  any  kind  of  meat,  poultry, 
or  game  that  was  so  rich,  tender,  and  agreeable  to  the 
taste  as  that  barbecued  in  the  manner  I  have  described. 
This  was  a  political  barbecue,  at  which  several 
distinguished  speakers,  candidates  for  various  offices, 
were  to  address  the  people.  But  my  engagements  for 
preaching,  and  other  duties  connected  with  my  mis- 
sion the  next  day,  were  such  that  I  was  compelled  to 
leave  immediately  after  breakfast.  I  could  not  hear 
the  speeches,  see  the  long  tables,  made  of  rough 


A   BARBECUE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  95 

boards,  spread  under  the  forest-trees,  participate  with 
the  immense  throng  in  their  barbecue  dinner,  and 
witness  and  enjoy  all  the  strange  and  varied  scenes 
and  incidents  inseparably  connected  with  such  a  gath- 
ering of  all  the  "  sovereigns  "  in  the  Brush.  But  what 
I  have  said  will  suffice  to  give  my  readers  the  modus 
operandi  of  a  barbecue.  It  will  be  seen  that  it  is  the 
simplest  possible  manner  of  preparing  a  dinner  for  a 
large  concourse  of  people.  It  requires  neither  build- 
ing, stove,  oven,  range,  nor  baking-pans.  It  involves 
no  house-cleaning  after  the  feast.  It  soils  and  spoils 
no  carpets  or  furniture.  And  in  the  mild,  bountiful 
region  where  the  ox  and  all  that  is  eaten  are  raised 
with  so  little  care,  the  cost  of  feeding  hundreds,  or 
even  thousands,  in  this  manner  is  merely  nominal. 
Hence  barbecues  have  been  for  a  long  time  so  com- 
mon and  popular  in  the  Southwest.  There  have  been 
unnumbered  political  barbecues,  where  the  eloquence 
peculiar  to  that  region  has  been  developed,  and  where 
vast  audiences  have  been  moved  by  its  power,  as  the 
trees  beneath  which  they  were  gathered  have  been 
swayed  by  the  winds.  In  the  published  life  and 
speeches  of .  Henry  Clay  are  several  that  were  deliv- 
ered at  different  barbecues,  where  he  addressed  the 
people  on  state  and  national  affairs,  with  an  eloquence 
and  power  equal  to,  if  not  greater  than,  that  with  which 
he  enchained  the  Senate.  There  have  been  barbecues 
in  connection  with  school-examinations,  and  Sabbath- 


96  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

school  celebrations  where  educational  and  religious 
topics  Lave  been  discussed.  There  have  been  barbe- 
cues in  connection  with  meetings  in  favor  of  turn- 
pikes, railroads,  and  all  kinds  of  internal  improve- 
ments. There  have  been  uncounted  barbecue-dances, 
and  barbecues  for  more  occasions  than  I  can  name. 
But  of  all  these  I  will  only  describe  a  large  wedding, 
that  was  succeeded  by  a  barbecue-supper,  that  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  attending. 

I  had  spent  the  Sabbath  at  a  small  county-seat  vil- 
lage, and  on  Monday  morning  my  kind  friend  and 
hostess  said  to  me:  "We  are  to  have  a  large  wedding 
on  Thursday  night  of  this  week,  and,  if  possible,  you 
must  stay  in  the  county  long  enough  to  attend  it.  Mr. 

C 's  only  daughter  is  to  be  married  to  Mr.  R , 

our  county  clerk,  and,  as  Mr.  C is  a  widower,  I 

leave  home  this  morning  to  go  and  assist  them  in 
their  preparations." 

As  I  was  obliged  to  visit  several  persons  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  county,  on  business  connected  with 
my  Bible  work,  I  planned  my  rides  so  as  to  reach  the 

neighborhood  in  which  Mr.  C resided  OB  the  day 

appointed  for  the  wedding.  I  received  a. cordial  wel- 
come from  my  lady  friend,  who  was  installed  as  pre- 
siding mistress  for  the  occasion,  and  from  the  father 
of  the  bride,  to  whom  she  introduced  me.  He  was 
an  old  and  highly  esteemed  citizen  of  the  county,  and 
a  warm  personal  and  political  friend  of  her  husband. 


A   BARBECUE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  97 

It  was  on  account  of  these  relations  between  the  fam- 
ilies, and  purely  as  an  act  of  neighborly  kindness,  that 
she  had  left  her  own  home  to  take  charge  of  his  fam- 
ily, and  direct  his  servants  during  this,  to  them, 
eventful  week.  He  belonged  to  the  dominant  party, 
and  had  represented  his  fellow-citizens  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State.  Tall  in  stature,  plainly  dressed, 
mostly  in  home-made  jeans,  of  simple,  unstudied  -man- 
ners, his  kind  face  and  warm  heart  bespoke  a  man  to 
be  revered  and  loved  by  his  neighbors  and  by  all  to 
whom  he  was  known.  He  was  in  comfortable  but 
not  affluent  circumstances — in  the  vernacular  of  the 
region,  "a  good  liver."  His  house  was  of  the  prevail- 
ing style  of  architecture  for  the  better  class  of  plan- 
tation-houses in  the  Southwest  and  South.  It  was  a 
two-story  frame,  with  a  wide  hall  or  "  passage  "  through 
the  middle  of  it,  and  a  chimney  on  each  end,  built 
outside  of  the  house.  In  the  rear,  and  communicating 
with  it,  was  a  log  building,  which  had  probably  been 
the  home  of  his  early  married  life,  in  which  the  sup- 
per-table was  to  be  spread  for  this  occasion.  Early  in 
the  afternoon  the  guests  began  to  arrive.  A  few  from 
adjoining  counties,  and  from  the  greatest  distance, 
persons  of  wealth  and  high  social  position,  came  in 
carriages;  but  by  far  the  greatest  number,  both  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  arrived  on  horseback.  The 
ladies  almost  invariably  had  a  carpet-bag  or  sachel 
hung  on  the  horn  of  their  saddles,  in  which  they 


98  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

1. r.. light  the  dresses  in  which  they  were  to  grace  the 
occasion..  A  horseback-ride  over  such  roads,  and 
iliruiiirh  such  mud  and  clay  as  most  of  them  had 
come,  would  not  leave  the  most  becoming  wedding 
attire  in  a  very  presentable  condition.  Hence  these 
arrangements  to  "dress"  after  their  arrival.  As  they 
rode  up,  many  of  them  with  calico  sunbonnets  and 
butternut  -  colored  riding-dresses,  such  as  I  have  else- 
where described,  and  bespattered  with  mud,  they 
looked  more  like  bands  of  wandering  gypsies  than 
wedding  guests.  But  the  best  of  colored  waiting- 
maids,  from  near  and  remote  plantations,  were  in  at- 
tendance, who  took  charge  of  the  sachels,  and  of 
their  young  misses,  and  conducted  them  to  some  capa- 
cious dressing-room.  Here  each  maid  was  anxious  that 
her  young  "  missus  "  should  eclipse  all  the  others,  and 
under  the  manipulations  of  these  ambitious  servants 
they  emerged  from  the  room  transformed,  if  not  to 
wood-nymphs  and  fairies,  at  least  to  a  becomingly 
attired  and  very  bright  and  happy  throng. 

It  was  often  very  interesting  to  me  to  witness  the 
solicitude  and  pride  of  these  family  servants  in  the  ap- 
pearance made  and  the  attentions  received  by  their 
young  mistresses,  and  the  art  which  they  frequently 
displayed  in  aiding  or  defeating  matrimonial  alliances 
that  were  agreeable  or  otherwise  to  them.  This  was 
ofti-n  a  very  important  matter  to  them,  as  it  involved 
the  question  whether  they  were  to  have  a  kind  or  an 


A  BARBECUE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  99 

unkind  master.  If  the  suitor  pleased  them,  they  poured 
into  his  ears  the  most  extravagant  praises  of  their 
young  "missus,"  and  waited  upon  him  with  the  most 
marked  attention  and  delight.  But  if  they  knew  that 
his  temper  and  habits  were  bad,  and  thought  he  would 
make  an  unkind  master,  they  did  not  fail  to  repeat, 
in  ears  where  it  would  be  most  effective,  all  that  they 
knew  to  his  discredit.  In  this  manner  they  have  aided 
in  making  and  defeating  many  matches. 

As  the  sun  declined,  the  arrivals  increased  until  the 
numbers  swelled  to  scores,  to  fifties,  and,  when  all  had 
assembled,  there  were  in  and  around  the  house  more 
than  two  hundred.  It  was  a  genial,  happy  throng.  All 
were  in  the  best  possible  humor.  There  were  pleasant, 
kindly  greetings  between  the  old,  and  frolic  and  flirta- 
tions among  the  young.  At  about  nine  o'clock  the 
wedding  ceremony  was  announced,  and  as  many  of  the 
guests  as  possible  assembled  in  the  largest  room.  The 
bride  and  groom,  with  bridesmaids  and  groomsmen  be- 
comingly attired,  entered  the  room  where  we  were  gath- 
ered, and  the  ceremony  was  performed  by  a  clergyman 
of  the  neighborhood,  which  was  followed  by  the  usual 
congratulations  and  greetings. 

But  there  had  been  barbecuing  and  cooking  of  all 
kinds  for  days  before,  and  very  soon  we  followed  the 
bride  and  groom  with  our  ladies  to  the  supper-room. 
The  tables  were  arranged  diagonally  across  the  room 
from  corner  to  corner,  in  the  form  of  the  letter  X, 


100 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


so  as  to  accommodate  the  largest  number.  There  was 
the  greatest  abundance  of  barbecued  meats,  and  poultry 
of  different  kinds,  with  a  variety  of  cakes,  pies,  and 
everything  else  to  make  a  hearty  and  bountiful  feast. 
This  was  enjoyed  with  the  keenest  relish  by  all  those 
who  had  gained  admittance  to  the  Bupper-room ;  and, 
when  their  appetites  were  fully  satisfied,  they  retired 
to  give  place  to  others.  These  in  turn  gave  place 
to  others,  and  eo  tableful  succeeded  tableful  for  hours. 
While  the  feasting  was  going  on,  the  others  were  en- 
joying themselves  in  conversation  and  general  hilarity. 
Not  a  few  occupied  the  large  porch,  and  enjoyed  a 
smoke  and  social  chat.  I  sat  down  here  and  had  a  long 
talk  with  the  father  of  the  bride.  He  told  me  that, 
after  inviting  his  particular  friends,  legislators,  mem- 
bers of  the  bar,  and  others,  from  adjoining  counties  and 
distant  neighborhoods,  he  had  put  a  negro  boy  upon  a 
horse  and  directed  him  to  go  to  every  family,  rich  and 
poor,  within  a  circle  of  a  few  miles  around  his  home, 
and  invite  them  all  to  the  wedding.  I  think  that  very 
few  that  could  possibly  get  there  had  remained  at  home. 
It  was  a  thoroughly  promiscuous  crowd.  It  embraced 
all  ages  and  all  grades  of  people  that  the  region  pro- 
duced, and  all  seemed  equally  to  enjoy  the  gathering, 
as  they  were  free  to  do  in  their  own  way.  Some  time 
after  midnight  I  gratified  my  curiosity  by  going  into 
the  supper-room  and  asking  my  lady  friend,  who  was 
the  mistress  of  ceremonies,  if  she  had  any  idea  how 


A   BARBECUE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  101 

many  persons  bad  already  taken  supper.  She  re- 
plied : 

"I  had  not  thought  of  that,  but  I  can  easily  tell. 
The  table  has  been  set  each  time  with  thirty-two  plates, 
and  this  is  the  fifth  tableful." 

And  still  others  were  waiting,  and  after  them  all  the 
colored  servants  were  to  have  their  feast — in  all,  more 
than  two  hundred. 

Later  in  the  night  a  gentleman  residing  in  the  neigh- 
borhood invited  me  and  several  other  gentlemen  to  go 
home  and  lodge  with  him.  Before  leaving,  my  lady 
friend  came  to  me,  and  said : 

"  You  must  come  back  here  and  get  your  breakfast 
in  the  morning." 

I  replied  : 

"•  Is  it  possible  that  you  will  have  anything  to  eat 
after  feeding  this  great  crowd  ? " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  she,  opening  a  door,  and  directing 
me  to  look  into  a  room  where  the  provisions  were 
stored ;  "  we  have  five  barbecued  shoats  that  have  not 
been  touched  yet." 

We  mounted  our  horses,  and  rode  through  the  dark- 
ness to  my  lodging-place  for  the  night.  Beds  were 
soon  divided  and  scattered  over  the  floor,  making  pal- 
lets enough  for  each  of  us.  The  wife  of  my  hospitable 
friend,  with  the  most  of  the  ladies  in  attendance,  re- 
mained at  the  house  and  slept  in  this  same  manner, 
covering  the  floors  of  the  different  rooms.  Husbands 


102  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

and  wives  were  generally  separated  that  night,  the  gen- 
tlemen going  to  the  different  houses  in  the  neighbor- 
hood to  sleep,  as  we  had  done.  When  we  arose  in  the 
morning,  my  host  said: 

"We  shall  all  have  to  go  back  to  get  our  break- 
fast. There  is  not  a  knife,  fork,  or  dish  in  the  house. 
They  are  all  at  the  wedding." 

This  was  the  condition  of  most  of  the  houses  in  the 
neighborhood.  When  we  returned,  we  found  a  large 
company  and  an  abundant  breakfast.  After  mingling 
with  the  departing  guests  for  a  time,  I  renewed  my 
congratulations  and  good  wishes  for  the  happy  pair, 
and  bade  good-by  to  my  kind  friends,  greatly  pleased 
with  this  entirely  new  experience  at  a  wedding. 

Such  is  a  simple,  unadorned  narrative  of  a  wed- 
ding, with  its  barbecue  feast,  at  which  I  was  a  guest 
in  the  Southwest.  How  unlike  those  that  I  have,  at- 
tended in  our  largest  cities !  But  who  shall  say  at 
which  there  was  the  greatest  and  most  universal  happi- 
lu-ss,  whether  where  wealth  and  fashion  held  high  car- 
nival, or  at  this  more  simple  and  primitive  gathering 
and  feasting  of  old  neighbors  and  friends  in  the  South- 
west ? 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE    OLD,     OLD    BOOK   AND    ITS     8TOEY    IN    THE    WILDS    OF 


THE     SOUTHWEST. 


I  HAVE  never  known  such  remarkable  and  pleasing 
results  follow  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  without  any  hu- 
man help,  as  among  the  ignorant  people  I  have  visited, 
living  in  wild  and  neglected  regions  in  the  Brush.  I 
propose  in  this  chapter  to  give  a  detailed  account  of  the 

results  that  followed  its  presentation,  by  Mr.  J.  G.  K , 

to  families  living  among  the  hills  upon  the  head-waters 
of  a  stream  that  I  thought  was  rightly  named  "  Rough 
Creek."  Mr.  K was  a  venerable  and  faithful  Bible- 
distributor,  sixty- four  years  old,  and  he  loved,  above  ev- 
erything else,  to  go  from  house  to  house  with  the  "Word 
of  God,  and  strive  by  simple,  earnest  exhortation  and  fer- 
vent prayer  to  lead  souls  to  Christ.  "While  prosecuting 
his  labors  in  this  neglected  region,  he  found  in  one 
neighborhood  sixteen  families  out  of  twenty  without  a 
Bible,  and  supplied  the  most  of  them  by  gift. 

This  region  of  country  was  exceedingly  wild,  broken, 
and  inaccessible,  there  being  no  main  public  road  lead- 


104  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

ing  to  it.  The  hills  were  high  and  steep,  the  valleys 
narrow,  and  the  people  were  scattered  along  the  creeks 
and  over  the  hill-sides,  with  no  other  roads  leading  to 
them  than  neighborhood  paths.  Mr.  K—  -  told  me  that 
he  never  could  have  found  all  these  families  had  not  a 
young  man  who  was  born  in  the  vicinity  (who  had  since 
become  a  Methodist  preacher)  volunteered  to  accompany 
him  as  a  guide.  He  had  hunted  deer,  foxes,  wildcats, 
and  other  game  over  these  hills  until  he  knew  every 
locality  and  path.  Entering  these  rude,  humble  cabins, 
they  explained  the  nature  of  their  work,  supplied  the 
families  with  the  Word  of  God  by  sale  or  gift,  and  then, 
after  kindly  and  earnestly  urging  upon  them  the  worth 
of  the  soul  and  the  importance  of  securing  at  once  an 
interest  in  Christ,  they  bowed  with  them  in  prayer,  and 
humbly  and  earnestly  besought  God's  blessing  upon 
them.  There  was  a  strange  interest  in  these  visits.  The 
voice  of  prayer  had  never  before  been  heard  in  many  of 
these  dwellings.  Though  their  visits  were  so  strange 
and  unusual  in  their  nature,  they  were  everywhere  kind- 
ly received,  the  mild,  benignant  face  of  the  venerable 
distributor  making  him  everywhere  a  welcome  visitor. 
AY  here  will  not  a  face  full  of  geniality  and  sunshine  se- 
cure a  welcome  for  its  possessor  ? 

As  he  was  concluding  his  prayer  at  one  of  these  cab- 
ins, the  old  man,  who  had  been  absent,  returned,  and 
hearing  the  strange  sound  in  his  house,  cried  out,  in  as- 
tonishment, "Wake,  snakes!"  But,  on  going  into  the 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         105 

house  when  the  prayer  was  concluded,  our  visitor  re- 
ceived him  with  a  smile,  explained  to  him  the  nature  of 
his  visit,  and  at  once  made  a  personal  religious  appeal 
to  him.  The  old  man  treated  his  visitor  very  kindly, 
though  he  seemed  to  be  in  a  very  jocular  mood,  and  re- 
plied to  most  of  his  remarks  with  some  playful  speech. 
But  when  his  visitor  left  he  went  out  with  him,  and  as- 
sisted him  in  getting  on  to  his  horse,  and  invited  him  to 
call  again  whenever  he  should  pass  that  way.  But  gen- 
erally their  exhortations  were  listened  to  with  deep  so- 
lemnity and  awe,  and  their  visits  evidently  made  a  deep 
religious  impression  upon  the  neighborhood. 

Not  many  weeks  after  these  visits  of  Mr.  K ,  re- 
ports were  received  that  several  persons  in  this  neighbor- 
hood had  been  hopefully  converted  ;  and  for  a  year  or 
more  I  was  almost  constantly  hearing  from  various  sources 
of  the  wonderful  work  of  grace  that  was  going  on  there. 
The  statements  in  regard  to  the  number  and  character  of 
the  conversions  were  so  remarkable  that  I  was  unwilling 
to  make  them  public  until  I  had  made  a  personal  visit  to 
the  neighborhood,  and  seen  with  my  own  eyes  what  God 
had  wrought.  I  subsequently  made  that  visit,  and  can 
truly  say  that  the  half  had  not  been  told  me.  My  pow- 
ers are  not  equal  to  the  work  of  giving  an  adequate  de- 
scription of  the  great  change  that  had  been  wrought 
through  the  power  of  God's  Word  and  Spirit,  but  I  will 
give  some  of  the  main  facts. 

I  arrived  at  a  house  to  which  I  had  been  directed, 


106  IX  THE  BRUSH. 

near  this  neighborhood,  about  midday,  having  traveled 
for  miles  in  the  foot-paths  that  led  from  one  cabin  to 
that  of  the  next  neighbor.  Where  the  path  was  blind 
and  difficult  to  follow,  the  people  would  often  send  a  lit- 
tle boy  or  girl  along  to  show  me  the  way.  On  making 
myself  known  as  a  preacher,  and  the  agent  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society,  I  was  at  once  greeted  with  the  usual 
question,  "  Won't  you  preach  for  us  to-night  ? " 

I  gladly  assented,  as  I  had  made  the  journey  to 
learn  the  real  condition  of  things,  and  I  was  anxious 
to  see  as  many  of  the  people  as  possible.  "Word  was 
at  once  sent  over  the  hills  in  different  directions  that 
I  would  preach  that  night  in  a  log-house  that  had 

been    erected    since    the   visit    of    Mr.   K for    a 

school  and  meeting  house  ;  and  shell  -  bark  -  hickory 
torches  were  at  once  prepared  to  light  me  and  the 
hospitable  family  that  entertained  me  to  and  from 
the  place  of  meeting.  This  house  was  upon  a  hill  in 
the  midst  of  the  woods,  and  at  some  distance  from 
any  clearing,  having  been  placed  there  on  account  of 
its  central  position  in  the  neighborhood.  Though  the 
notice  was  short,  and  the  night  dark,  and  all  who 
came  had  to  make  their  way  by  torchlight  through 
the  forest,  the  house  was  well  filled,  and  it  was  a  real 
pleasure  to  unfold  and  enforce  the  truths  of.  the 
Gospel,  in  simple  language,  to  a  group  whose  solemn 
and  attention  showed  that  they  listened  in- 
as  to  a  message  from  Heaven. 


TEE   OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         107 

At  the  close  of  our  services  it  was  a  rare  and 
beautiful  sight  to  see  the  audience  disperse  from  that 
rude  sanctuary,  some  on  foot,  and  some  on  horseback 
— a  father,  mother,  and  three  children  upon  a  single 
horse  —  the  oldest  child  in  front  of  the  father,  the 
second  behind  the  mother,  and  the  third  in  the 
mother's  arms,  their  naming  torches  lighting  up  the 
grand  old  forest,  as  they  set  out  for  their  homes  with 
parting  words  of  Christian  hope  and  cheer. 

In  the  prosecution  of  my  inquiries  I  learned  that 
the  first  person  who  had  been  converted  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, after  the  visit  of  Mr.  K ,  was  Mr.  Jake 

G ,  who  had  received  a  Testament  in  the  follow- 
ing manner.  When  Mr.  K and  his  guide  were 

making  their  visits,  they  called  at  a  house  where 
there  were  eight  children,  and  the  parents  were  both 
gone  from  home.  On  inquiring  of  the  children  if  their 
parents  had  a  Bible,  they  said  they  did  not  know — 
meaning,  undoubtedly,  that  they  did  not  know  what 
a  Bible  was. 

"Without  dismounting,  they  gave  the  children  a 
Testament,  and  told  them  to  give  it  to  their  parents 
when  they  came  home. 

Not    long  after    this    the    guide  who   accompanied 

Mr.  K met  the  man  at  whose  house  they  had  left 

the  Testament,  and  he  immediately  said  :  "  I'm  mighty 
sorry  I  was  not  at  home  when  you  and  old  man  K — 
were    around    with     them     books,    for     I'm    mightily 


1Q8  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

pleased  with  the  little  book    you    left  at  my  house. 

joe  n told  me  you  had  some  bigger  ones"  (B 

bles)  «  at  his  house,   and  if   I  had  been   at  home 
would  have  got  one  of  them   bigger  ones    sure;   for 
I'm  mi-htily  pleased  with  the  little  one.     I  can't  read, 
and    my  wife  and  children    can't   read;    but   Brother 
Joe's  wife  can  read,  and  she  comes  over  to  our  house, 
and  we  get  her.  to  read  out  of  that  little  book;  and 
it's  mighty  pretty  reading.     I'-ve  heard   reading  afore, 
but  I  never  heard  any  reading   afore   that   I  wanted 
to  hear  read  again.      But  that  little  look  I  do  take  to 
mightily.    Brother  Fred's  wife  can   read,  too,  and  we 
get  her  to  read  out  of  the  little  book ;  and  everybody 
that  comes  to  our  house  that  can  read,  we  get  them  to 
read  out  of  that  little  book ;  and—/  don't  know  what 
it  is  — I  never  heard  any  such  reading  afore;   every 
time  they  read  to  me  out  of  that  little  look  it  makes 
me  cry,  and  I  carft  help  it." 

I  have  already  said  that  this  man  was  the  first 
person  who  was  converted  in  the  neighborhood  after 
the  visit  of  the  Bible-distributor.  They  read  "that 
I'Me  look "  until  he  and  his  wife,  and  those  two  brothers 
and  their  wives,  became  savingly  acquainted  with  its 
truths,  and  they,  with  many  others  in  the  neighborhood, 
became  the  humble  and  devoted  followers  of  Christ.  I 

learned  that  this  Mr.  Jake  G ,  who  had  received  and 

Avho  now  loved  his  "little  book,"  as  I  have  described, 
belonged  to  a  family  remarkable  for  their  ignorance  and 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  TEE  SOUTHWEST.         109 

irreligion.  Though  he  had  eight  children,  his  grand- 
father was  yet  alive,  more  than  ninety  years  old,  and 
still  a  very  hardened  sinner.  He  had  come  to  this  neigh- 
borhood from  southwestern  Virginia  more  than  thirty 
years  before.  He  had  had  eighteen  children,  thirteen  of 
whom  lived  to  marry,  and  nine  of  whom  were  settled 
immediately  around  him.  None  of  his  children  could 
read  a  word  except  two  of  the  youngest,  who  had  at- 
tended school  a  little  after  leaving  Virginia,  and,  though 
all  of  them  had  large  families,  all  of  them  were  without 
the  Bible  but  two.  One  son  and  one  daughter  had  mar- 
ried persons  who  had  a  Bible.  The  two  Bibles  that  had 
been  obtained  by  marriage  were  the  only  Bibles  in  this 

large  family  connection  when  Mr.  K visited  the 

neighborhood  and  supplied  them  all. 

The  father  of  the  man  who  had  received  the  Testa- 
ment was  sixty-two  years  old;  had  reared  a  family  of 
nine  children,  not  one  of  whom  nor  himself  could  read, 
and  all  of  them  had  grown  up  and  married  but  two ;  and 
that  large  family  had  never  owned  a  Bible.  The  mother 

could  read,  and  Mr.  K gave  her  a  Bible.  Now  she 

and  her  husband  and  six  of  their  children  were  num- 
bered with  the  people  of  God,  and  though  unable  to  read 
were  humble  learners  at  the  feet  of  Jesus. 

The  morning  after  my  sermon,  accompanied  by  a 
small  boy,  whom  my  host  kindly  sent  along  as  a 
guide,  I  rode  through  the  woods  and  over  the  hills  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Jake  G ,  where,  several  months  before, 


110  IN  TEE  BRUSH. 

the  "little  book"  had  been  left  by  the  Bible-distributor 
and  his  guide.  He  was  among  my  hearers  the  night  be- 
fore, and  I  had  sought  an  introduction  to  him,  had  a 
short  conversation  with  him,  and  told  him  I  would  come 
and  see  him  in  the  morning.  I  was  particularly  anxious 
to  spend  a  few  hours  with  him  in  his  own  home,  and  get 
the  story  of  the  great  change  that  had  been  wrought  in 
himself  and  in  the  neighborhood,  from  his  own  lips,  and 
in  his  own  genuine  Brush  vernacular. 

There  is  to  me  a  strange  interest  and  pleasure  in 
hearing  one  whose  soul  has  been  thoroughly  subdued  by 
the  power  and  grace  of  God,  who  as  yet  knows  little  of 
the  Bible,  and  less  of  the  set  phrases  in  which  religious 
thoughts  arc  usually  communicated,  give  expression 
to  the  warm  and  glowing  emotions  of  his  soul,  in  lan- 
guage all  his  own.  There  is  often  in  these  recitals  the 
highest  type  of  simple,  natural  eloquence  in  the  singu- 
larity, the  quaintness,  and  the  power  of  the  language 
used. 

As  I  rode  up  the  hill-side  and  hitched  my  horse  to 
the  rail-fence  in  front  of  his  log-cabin,  he  came  out  to 
meet  and  welcome  me.  But  there  was  not  that  warmth 
of  cordiality  with  which  he  had  shaken  my  hand  the 
night  before.  As  I  entered  the  house  with  him  and 
took  a  seat,  he  remained  standing,  and  walked  about  the 
floor  continually,  with  an  uneasy,  troubled  air.  He  was 
a  very  tall  man,  was  barefooted,  and  his  only  dress  was  a 
Blurt  and  pantaloons.  After  some  little  conversation,  he 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.          HI 

turned  to  ine  and  said,  "  How  much  does  that  little  book 
sell  for?" 

I  could  not  imagine  why  he  asked  the  question,  but 
replied  at  once,  "  Only  a  dime,  sir."  (The  Bibles  and 
Testaments  were  sold  as  near  the  cost -price  in  ISTew 
York  as  possible,  but  as  no  pennies  were  used  in  any 
business  transactions  in  all  this  region,  we  were  obliged 
to  sell  this  Testament,  costing  six  and  a  fourth  cents,  for 
a  dime.) 

He  did  not  make  any  response  to  my  answer,  but, 
after  some  further  conversation,  which  I  tried  to  keep 
up,  he  came  and  stood  directly  over  me,  and  said,  in  a 
very  sad  tone  of  voice,  "  "Well,  sir,  I  have  only  got  half 
enough  to  pay  for  that  little  book,  but  if  I  had  the 
money  I'd  pay  five  dollars  before  I'd  give  it  up." 

Understanding  at  once  that  he  supposed  I  was  on  a 
collecting  tour,  and  that  this  was  the  cause  of  my  visit 
and  all  his  trouble,  I  said,  "  Why,  sir,  did  you  suppose  I 
had  come  to  get  the  pay  for  your  little  Testament  ? " 

"  H'ain't  you  ? "  asked  his  wife  eagerly,  a  slight  smile 
of  hope  passing  over  her  earnest,  expressive  face. 

"  Why,  no,  indeed,"  said  I ;  "  that  book  was  given  to 
you.  The  Bible  Society  gives  away  a  great  many  Bibles 
and  Testaments,  and  all  they  want  is  to  know  that  peo- 
ple make  good  use  of  them." 

"  Well,  I  declare !  "  said  she,  her  face  all  radiant  with 
joy.  "We've  been  right  smartly  troubled  about  it  all 
the  morning.  I  knew  we  hadn't  got  money  enough  to 


112  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

pay  for  it,  and  I  didn't  know  what  we  should  do.  I 
wouldn't  give  it  up  for  nothing.  I  know  none  of  us 
can't  read  any,  but  we  get  it  read  a  mighty  heap.  I  love 
to  have  it  in  the  house,  whether  we  can  read  or  not. 
That's  the  little  look  we're  trying  to  go  ly  now,  and 
whenever  they  gets  together  the  first  thing  is  to  get  out 
the  little  book,  and  it  seems  like  they  never  get  tired  of 
it." 

That  was  one  of  the  most  moving  and  beautiful  trib- 
utes of  affection  and  love  for  the  Word  of  God  to  which 
I  have  ever  listened.  I  see  her  now  through  the  lapse  of 
years,  her  bright,  black  eyes  and  her  face  all  aglow  with 
joy,  as  she  sat  at  one  side  of  her  fireplace  in  that  com- 
fortless cabin.  The  chimney,  made  of  sticks  and  mud, 
and  standing  on  the  outside  of  the  house,  had  leaned 
away  from  the  opening  that  had  been  cut  through  the 
logs  for  the  fireplace,  and  left  a  large  open  space  through 
which  and  the  logs  the  winds  blew  upon  her  back  about 
as  freely  as  through  a  rail-fence.  Where  the  brick  or 
stone  hearth  should  have  been,  there  was  only  a  bed  of 
ashes  and  a  few  smoldering  fire-brands.  Two  beds  on 
one  side  of  the  room  and  a  few  rough  articles  of  house- 
hold furniture  numbered  all  the  comforts  of  their  one 
apartment.  Such  were  her  surroundings,  and  yet  I  had 
made  her  one  of  the  happiest  mortals  I  have  ever  seen. 
As  I  looked  into  her  black,  expressive  eyes  and  her 
bright  face,  which  must  have  been  beautiful  in  earlier 
years,  it  was  hard  to  believe  that  she  could  not  read  a 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         113 

word — that  she  had  never  learned  a  single  letter  of  the 
alphabet  of  her  mother-tongue. 

"  Well,"  said  an  old  man,  who  thus  far  had  sat  quite 
mute,  "I'm  sure  my  old  woman  makes  good  use  of  hers; 
she  reads  it  about  half  the  time.  I  believe  she  would 
go  crazy  if  you  should  take  her  Bible  away." 

This  old  man,  with  his  hair  hanging  down  to  his 
shoulders,  his  powder  -  horn,  pouch,  and  other  hunting 
equipments  hanging  at  his  side,  had  entered  the  house 
with  his  gun  in  hand  just  as  I  rode  up,  having  appar- 
ently just  returned  from  a  morning  hunt.  I  now  learned 
that  he  was  the  father  of  the  man  at  whose  house  I  was 
— the  man  in  whose  family  so  great  a  change  had  been 

wrought  since  Mr.  K had  given  his  wife  the  Bible. 

After  I  had  satisfied  them  that  they  were  not  to  lose 
their  Testament  and  Bible,  all  tongues. were  unloosed, 
and  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  give  in  detail  tfce  con- 
versation that  followed. 

"  Can't  you  stay  and  preach  for  us  to-night  ? "  said 
the  old  man.  "We  can  send  word  around,  and  you'll 
have  a  house  full.  I  want  to  hear  you  mightily.  We 
didn't  sleep  any  last  night,  hardly.  Jake  came  home 
from  meeting  so  full,  and  he  was  trying  to  tell  us  about 
the  sermon.  You  ought  to  stay  and  see  the  G — — s ; 
you  ought  to  hear  them  sing  and  pray." 

I  consented  to  preach  again  most  gladly,  and  after 
full  consultation  among  themselves  as  to  whose  house 
in  the  neighborhood  would  hold  the  most  people,  and 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 

arrangements  had  been  made  for  circulating  the  notice, 
they  all  sat  down  and  listened  intently  while  I  read  to 
them  out  of  the  "  little  book,"  explaining  the  portions 
read  as  I  would  attempt  to  explain  them  to  an  infant- 
class  in  a  Sabbath-school.  I  remember  that  the  great 
change  wrought  in  themselves  and  their  neighbors  seemed 
an  incomprehensible  mystery  to  them.  So,  looking  out 
of  the  open  door  of  their  cabin  and  down  the  hill-side,  I 
pointed  them  to  the  tops  of  the  large  forest  trees  that 
were  swaying  to  and  fro  in  the  wind,  and  said : 

"  You  see  all  those  trees  in  motion,  but  can  not  see 
anything  moving  them.  And  yet  you  know  what  it  is. 
You  know  that  it  is  the  wind.  You  can  not  see  it,  but 
you  can  hear  its  sound." 

I  then  opened  their  "little  book"  (for  I  had  pre- 
ferred to  read  to  them  out  of  their  own  prized  treasure, 
that  they  might  be  sure,  after  I  was  gone,  that  they  had 
in  their  possession  all  that  I  had  read  and  explained  to 
them),  and  read  to  them  the  story  of  the  conversation  of 
Christ  with  Nicodemus,  calling  their  special  attention  to 
the  passage :  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and 
thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth.  So  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit." 

This  passage  was  apparently  new,  and  made  the 
whole  matter  wonderfully  clear  to  them,  affording  them 
the  most  intense  pleasure  and  satisfaction.  So  I  read, 
and  they  listened  to  these  simple  comments,  for  an  hour 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         H5 

or  more  with  expressions  of  the  deepest  interest,  and 
would  evidently  have  listened  thus  for  hours.  We  then 
all  bowed  upon  our  knees,  and,  after  I  had  prayed,  Mr. 

Jake  G ,  at  my  request,  offered  a  prayer,  such  as  he 

offered  daily  as  he  assembled  his  children  around  that 
family  altar ;  a  prayer  so  broken,  so  humble,  so  sincere, 
as  to  move  the  stoutest  heart.  I  wish  I  could  give  the 
whole  of  it ;  but  I  only  remember  the  first  sentence, 
"  O  Lord,  we  bow  down  to  call  on  thy  name  as  well 
as  we  know  how." 

I  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  with  the  old  man,  visiting 
different  families,  and  in  his  own,  reading  the  Bible  to 
them,  praying  with  them,  and  listening  to  their  simple 
details  of  the  wonderful  change  that  had  been  wrought 
among  them.  Their  own  statements  in  regard  to  the  ex- 
ceeding ignorance  and  irreligion  of  the  community  cor- 
roborated the  accounts  I  heard  of  them  in  all  the  country 
around. 

"  I've  known  a  heap  of  people,"  said  the  old  man,  as 
we  left  the  house,  and  started  off  through  the  woods, 

"  but  I  never  did  know  as  bad  a  set  as  the  G 's  "  (his 

own  family).  "  Every  one  of  my  boys  played  the  fiddle, 
and  every  one  of  my  children  had  rather  dance  than  eat 
the  best  meal  that  could  be  got.  Every  one  of  my  boys 
played  cards  and  gambled.  Every  one  of  them  would 
go  to  horse-races  and  shooting-matches,  and  get  drunk, 
and  fight,  and  get  into  all  kinds  of  scrapes.  And  my 
boy  Dock — that  ain't  his  name,  but  that's  what  we  all 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 

call  him — I  do  wish  you  could  hear  Dock  pray  now — my 
boy  Dock  used  to  get  drunk  and  have  fits  [delirium 
tremens],  and  when  he  was  gone  to  a  shooting-match  or 
a  log-rolling,  or  any  such  place,  I'd  go  to  bed  at  night, 
but  I  couldn't  go  to  sleep.  I'd  just  lie  and  wait  to  hear 
him  holler,  and  I've  gone  out  many  a  night  and  brought 
him  into  the  house  out  of  the  most  awful  places.  And 
Sundays — why,  I  didn't  hear  a  sermon  in  fifteen  years. 
Sundays  my  yard  was  filled  with  people  who  came  from 
all  around  here,  and  jumped,  and  played  marbles,  and 
shot  at  a  mark,  and  frolicked,  all  day  long.  And  such 
a  thing  as  a  hime"  (hymn),  continued  the  old  man, 
"  singin'  Limes  or  prayin',  why,  there  wa'n't  no  such 
thing  in  all  the  neighborhood.  When  they  first  began 
to  hold  meetings  around,  there  wa'n't  nobody  to  raise  the 
tunes.  Now  they  know  a  heap  of  himes,  and  sometimes 
Jake  leads  the  meetin',  and  sometimes  Dock,  and  you 
ought  to  hear  them  all  sing  and  pray  now." 

So  the  old  man  talked  on,  giving  his  simple  narrative 
of  these  and  a  great  many  other  facts,  until  at  length  we 
came  to  a  log-house.  This  was  the  place  where  I  was  to 
preach  that  night,  the  home  of  a  brother — the  old  man 
that  had  shouted  "Wake,  snakes!"  at  hearing  Mr. 
-  pray.  He  had  since  died,  and  died  unconverted, 
and  the  account  that  the  old  man  gave  of  the  death  of 
this  brother  was  most  touching.  As  his  case  grew  more 
and  more  hopeless,  those  of  Lis  children  and  relatives 
who  had  been  converted  felt  the  deepest  interest  for 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         H7 

him,  talked  with  him  as  well  as  they  knew  how,  and 
prayed  with  him ;  but  all  apparently  in  vain. 

"  I  watched  him  from  day  to  day,"  said  the  old  man, 
"  until  I  saw  there  was  no  hope  for  him.  I  knew  that 
he  must  die.  and  I  knew  that  he  was  not  prepared.  I 
shook  hands  with  him,  bid  him  good-by,  and  turned 
away  from  him,  and  thought  I  had  no  time  to  lose.  I 
determined  to  try  and  get  religion  at  once,  and  be  pre- 
pared for  death." 

When  at  length  his  family  and  friends  had  gathered 
around  his  bed  to  see  him  die,  his  youngest  daughter, 
that  had  lately  been  converted,  who  was  about  eighteen 
years  old,  but  could  not  read  a  letter,  agonized  at  the 
thought  of  his  leaving  the  world  unprepared,  rushed 
forward,  knelt  at  his  bedside,  and  gave  vent  to  her  emo- 
tions in  a  prayer  such  as  is  rarely  offered.  Those  who 
heard  it  were  most  of  them  as  illiterate  as  herself,  and 
incompetent  to  describe  it ;  but  from  their  accounts  the 
scene  was  solemn,  and  the  effect  overpowering  to  all 
except  the  dying  man.  As  she  arose  from  her  knees,  he 
opened  his  eyes,  and  said,  faintly,  "  I  never  expected  that 
[to  hear  a  prayer]  from  one  of  my  children,"  and  in  a 
few  moments  breathed  his  last.  During  my  visit  here  I 
asked  this  young  lady  if  she  could  read.  She  replied : 

"  Oh,  no,  sir ;  I  was  always  too  industrious  to  take 
time  to  learn  to  read."  Her  arms  were  colored  to  above 
her  elbows,  where  she  had  had  them  in  the  dye-tub,  pre- 
paring the  "  butternut-woolsey "  for  the  family  use. 


118  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

From  this  place  the  old  man  took  me  to  bis  own 
house.  As  we  went  up  to  the  door,  bis  wife  stood  with 
her  back  to  us,  washing  dishes,  and  he  rapped  at  the 
door.  She  turned  her  head  so  as  to  see  us  both,  but 
did  not  move  her  body  or  say  a  word.  lie  then 
said : 

"  Old  woman,  see  here ! "  (pointing  to  me),  "  here  is 
a  man  that  has  come  to  get  your  Bible."  -  ^ 

Looking  at  me  a  moment,  she  responded: 

"  You  talk  too  much,"  and  resumed  her  work. 

"We  then  entered  the  house,  and  he  informed  his  wife 
and  daughter  who  I  was  and  that  I  was  to  preach  that 
night.  After  I  had  talked  with  them  a  while,  it  was  pro- 
posed that  I  should  again  read  and  explain  the  Bible  to 
them.  At  his  son's  house,  as  they  had  all  been  so  wicked, 
I  had  read,  among  other  portions,  the  account  of  the  per- 
secutions and  the  conversion  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  and 
given  them  a  simple  sketch  of  his  subsequent  history, 
and  then  pointed  out  the  parts  of  the  "  little  book  "  that 
this  man  who  had  been  so  wicked  bad  been  inspired 
to  write.  This  story  was  almost  if  not  entirely  new 
to  them,  and  they  were  greatly  interested  in  it. 
AVlien  the  family  were  seated,  and  I  was  about  to  read 
to  them,  the  old  man  said  to  me : 

"Can't  you  read  that  again  that  you  read  up  at 
Jake's  ?  That  about— that— that— that  what  do  you  call 
him?" 

"Paul,"  said  I. 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         119 

"  Yes,  Paul,  Saul,  Paul.  Eead  that  about  Paul.  If 
that  don't  hit  the  nail  on  the  head  better  than  anything 
I  ever  heard  afore  ! " 

I,  of  course,  consented,  and  went  over  the  story 
again  for  the  benefit  of  his  family,  and  the  facts  seemed 
to  lose  none  of  their  interest  to  the  old  man  by  their 
repetition.  Having  spent  all  the  time  desirable  in  read- 
ing and  praying  with  this  family,  there  were  still  a  few 
hours  before  the  preaching  service  began.  Shall  I  intro- 
duce my  readers  more  fully  to  this  home  in  the  Brush, 
and  tell  them  how  this  time  was  passed  ?  The  house  con- 
tained but  a  single  room.  The  daughter  of  whom  I  have 
spoken  was  about  eighteen  or  twenty  years  old,  tall  and 
large,  wore  a  butternut-colored  woolsey  dress  that  she 
had  probably  spun  and  woven,  and  was  barefooted.  I 
had  not  been  long  in  the  house  before  she  retired  from 
their  only  room,  in  which  I  sat,  and  in  honor  of  my 
arrival  reappeared  in  another  dress.  I  do  not  know 
where  she  made  her  toilet,  only  that  it  was  the  same 
ample  and  magnificent  dressing-room  first  used  by 
Mother  Eve.  The  material  of  the  dress  in  which  she 
appeared  was  old-fashioned  cheap  curtain  calico,  with 
waving  stripes  some  two  or  three  inches  wide  running  its 
entire  length.  Preferring  perfect  freedom  and  the  com- 
fort of  the  cooling  breezes  to  considerations  that  would 
have  been  influential  with  most  of  my  lady  readers, 
in  thus  making  her  toilet  she  had  chosen  to  remain 
stockingless  and  shoeless.  A  massive  head  of  dark- 


120  W  THE  BRUSH. 

brown  hair,  cut  squarely  off  and  pushed  behind  her 
ears,  hung  loosely  down  her  neck. 

When  the  dishes  were  washed  and  all  the  after- 
dinner  work  accomplished,  and  she  was  prepared  to  sit 
down  and  enjoy  the  conversation,  she  took  from  the 
rude  mantle-tree  above  the  fireplace  a  cob-pipe,  and 
filled  it  with  home-grown  and  home-cured  tobacco  from 
an  abundant  supply  in  a  large  pocket  in  her  dress. 
Lighting  her  pipe,  she  took  a  seat  at  the  right  of  her 
father,  while  I  occupied  a  chair  on  his  left.  Soon  large 
columns  of  smoke  began  to  rise  and  roll  away  above  her 
head  as  gracefully  as  I  have  ever  seen  them  float  around 
the  head  of  the  most  fashionable  smoker  with  the  most 
costly  meerschaum.  Bending  her  right  arm  so  that  she 
could  clasp  the  long  stem  of  her  pipe  with  her  fore- 
finger, she  rested  the  elbow  in  the  palm  of  her  left 
hand.  Then,  placing  her  right  limb  across  her  left 
knee,  she  swung  the  pendent  foot  slowly,  as  if  in 
meditative  mood,  and  yielded  herself  to  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  her  pipe  and  our  conversation.  Her  name  I 
should  have  said  was  Barbara.  She  was  of  a  quiet, 
taciturn  disposition,  and  rarely  said  anything,  except 
as  she  was  appealed  to  on  some  matter  by  her  proud 
and  happy  father. 

I  have  met  some  people  who  were  so  ignorant  in 
regard  to  rustic  manufactures  that  they  did  not  know 
what  a  "  cob  "-pipe  was.  For  the  sake  of  any  that  may 
be  similarly  uninformed,  I  will  describe  one.  It  is 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         121 

made  by  taking  a  section  of  a  common  corn-cob  some 
two  or  three  inches  in  length,  and  boring  or  burning 
out  with  a  hot  iron  the  pith  of  the  cob  some  two  thirds 
of  its  length,  and  then  boring  or  burning  a  small  hole 
transversely  through  the  cob  to  the  base  of  the  bowl 
already  made,  and  inserting  in  this  a  small  hollow  reed 
or  cane  for  a  stem.  These  pipe-stems  are  long  or  short, 
from  a  few  inches  to  two  or  three  feet,  according  to  the 
preference  of  those  who  are  to  use  them.  I  have  often 
been  told  by  old  smokers  that  no  pipe  was  as  pleasant 
or  sweet  as  a  cob-pipe.  The  great  objection  to  them 
is  that  they  have  to  be  renewed  so  frequently. 

Seated  as  I  have  already  described,  the  hours  passed 
away  to  the  evident  satisfaction  of  my  entertainers.  It 
is  not  an  easy  matter  to  maintain  a  conversation  for  sev- 
eral hours  with  those  who  have  never  read  a  word  of 
their  mother-tongue.  Their  stock  of  ideas  is  necessarily 
rather  limited.  But  a  very  large  experience  in  mingling 
with  this  class  of  people  had  given  me  such  facilities  that 
I  was  evidently  already  installed  as  a  favorite  in  the  fam- 
ily. I  asked  a  great  many  questions  in  regard  to  the 
children  and  grandchildren,  which  were  answered  with 
the  interest  which  always  pertains  to  these  inquiries.  At 
length  the  old  man  returned  the  compliment  by  in- 
quiring very  particularly  into  my  own  family  affairs. 
When  pressed  upon  this  subject,  as  I  almost  universally 
was  by  families  in  the  Brush,  I  was  compelled  to  tell 
them  that  my  family  was  very  small — as  small  as  possible 


122  IN   THE  BRUSH. 

—just  that  of  the  Apostle  Paul ;  in  plain  language,  that 
I  was  that  quite  unusual  character,  a  clerical  bachelor. 
The  old  man  was  astonished.  I  think  he  was  gratified. 
His  face  glowed  with  some  new  emotion.  He  was  evi- 
dently willing  on  our  short  acquaintance  to  receive  me 
as  a  son-in-law.  Turning  his  pleased,  animated  face  to 
me,  and  leaning  forward  in  his  chair,  he  lifted  his  right 
hand,  and,  pointing  with  an  emphatic  gesture  to  his 
daughter,  said : 

"  "Well,  preacher,  my  gals  is  all  married  but  Barbara 
here,  and  she  is  ready,  sir." 

Miss  Barbara  retained  her  hold  upon  the  long  stem  of 
her  cob-pipe,  and  smoked  on,  wellnigh  imperturbable  at 
this  sudden  culmination  of  affairs,  though  I  think  that, 
like  myself,  she  was  somewhat  startled  and  moved,  for  I 
could  see  an  evident  increase  in  the  swinging  movement 
of  her  still  pendent  right  foot. 

But  I  must  pass  over  other  and  interesting  inci- 
dents of  the  day.  Night  came,  and  with  it  the  con- 
gregation that  had  been  promised.  Temporary  seats 
had  been  provided,  and  the  log -cabin  was  closely 
packed.  As  the  last  of  the  company  were  arriving,  it 
began  to  sprinkle,  and  as  our  services  progressed  the 
rain  fell  in  torrents.  There  was  grandeur  in  the  storm 
as  the  wind  howled  among  the  trees  and  the  rain  beat 
upon  the  roof  but  a  few  feet  above  our  heads.  As 
the  most  of  the  company  could  not  read,  and  all  were 
very  ignorant,  my  sermon  was  as  simple  as  I  could  possi- 


"  Well,  Preacher,  my  gals  is  all  married,  but   Barbara   here, 

and   she   is   ready,  sir." 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         123 

bly  make  it.  It  was  listened  to  with  an  eager  interest, 
reminding  me  of  the  words  of  the  prophet :  "  Thy  words 
were  found,  and  I  did  eat  them ;  and  thy  word  was  unto 
me  the  joy  and  rejoicing  of  my  heart."  Those  simple 
babes  in  Christ  had  as  yet  no  idea  of  a  meeting  without 
special  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  the  impenitent ;  and, 
in  response  to  my  appeal  made  after  the  sermon,  a  little 
girl,  some  twelve  or  fourteen  years  old,  came  forward  to 
be  prayed  for.  As  she  started,  the  audience  were  greatly 
moved.  She  was  the  great-grandchild  of  the  hoary- 
headed  and  hardened  sinner  who  had.  raised  his  large 
family  as  I  have  already  described,  and  who  still  lived 
and  looked  on  unmoved  at  the  wonderful  work  God  was 
doing  among  his  children  and  his  children's  children. 

She  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Dock  G ,  and  after 

I  had  instructed  her  and  pointed  her  to  Christ  as 
best  I  could  in  these  circumstances,  and  several  prayers 
had  been  offered  for  her,  her  father  knelt  by  her  side 
and  poured  forth  the  yearning  desires  of  his  bur- 
dened soul  in  her  behalf.  It  was  a  prayer  of  con- 
fession of  parental  unfaithfulness,  of  thanksgiving  for 
what  God  had  already  done,  and  of  earnest,  importu- 
nate wrestlings  for  one  that  was  a  part  of  himself  and 
must  live  for  ever.  It  was  a  prayer  such  as  I  had  never 
heard  before.  I  did  not  wonder  that  his  father  had  said 
to  me  in  the  morning,  "  I  do  wish  you  could  hear  Dock 
pray  now."  Though  he  could  not  read,  his  mind  was 
evidently  of  a  superior  order,  and  the  language  of  his 


124  I&  TUE  BRUSH. 

prayer  was  not  such  as  lie  had  acquired  by  hearing  oth- 
ers pray,  but  was  entirely  his  own.  It  was  deeply  affect- 
ing to  hear  such  familiar  thoughts,  uttered  in  language 
so  strange  and  unusual. 

As  the  rain  continued  to  pour  in  torrents  and  the 
night  was  fearfully  dark,  the  meeting  was  continued  to  a 
late  hour,  and  I  was  gratified  in  hearing  them  sing  and 
pray  a  long  time.  Their  hymns  were  mostly  those  that 
they  had  learned  by  hearing  them  sung  by  others,  and 
their  prayers  were  the  simple,  earnest  utterances  of  those 
who  seemed  evidently  to  have  been  taught  of  God.  At 
length  the  meeting  closed,  and  though  the  rain  still 
poured  without  abatement,  and  the  night  was  fearfully 
dark,  several  of  the  company,  who  had  left  young  chil- 
dren at  home,  started  out  in  the  storm  to  make  their  way 
home  through  the  woods  and  across  swollen  streams  by 
following,  without  torchlight,  their  winding  neighbor- 
hood paths.  But  the  most  of  the  congregation  remained 
until  near  midnight,  when  the  rain  abated  and  it  became 
lighter.  Others  now  started  for  home,  some  on  foot  and 
some  on  horseback,  to  find  their  way  through  the  forest 
for  two  or  three  miles,  up  and  down  hills  and  across 
streams,  where  I  had  found  it  a  difficult  matter  to  make 
my  way  by  daylight.  With  a  number  so  large  that  I  did 
not  undertake  to  count  them,  I  spent  the  night  in  their 
cabin,  and  received  from  the  family  the  kindest  treat- 
ment it  was  in  their  power  to  bestow. 

First  of  all,  at  the  close  of  the  meeting,  the   cob, 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         125 

clay,  and  all  other  pipes  were  brought  out,  and  fam- 
ily and  guests  sat  down  to  enjoy  a  social  smoke  and 
chat.  Though  I  have  spent  so  many  years  where  to- 
bacco is  grown  and  almost  universally  used,  though  I 
have  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  a  great  many  families 
where  the  mothers  and  daughters  both  chewed  and 
"dipped,"  I  have  never  learned  to  use  the  weed. 
Though  I  do  not  smoke,  I  have  very  often  been  most 
thoroughly  smoked.  In  this  company  of  social  smok- 
ers, composed  of  old  men  and  young  men,  old  women 
and  young  women,  I  was  more  favored  than  I  have 
often  been  in  the  most  elegant  apartments  of  the  most 
magnificent  dwellings.  The  fireplace,  several  feet  long, 
filled  with  ashes,  made  an  ample  spittoon,  and  the 
large  "  stick "  chimney,  aided  by  the  winds  that  circu- 
lated freely  through  the  cabin,  afforded  what  I  have  so 
often  wished  for — an  ample  funnel  for  the  escape  of  the 
smoke  and  fumes  of  the  tobacco.  Uncultivated  as  this 
company  was,  it  was  evident  that  they  were  gifted  with 
capacities  for  enjoying  the  weed  equal  to  those  of  the 
most  refined  circles  I  have  ever  met. 

Having  smoked  to  their  satisfaction,  and  the  hour 
of  midnight  being  passed,  I  was  pointed  to  a  bed  in  one 
corner  of  the  room  which  I  was  to  occupy.  I  had 
not  been  in  it  long  before  some  bedfellow  got  in  to 
share  it  with  me.  I  soon  discovered  that  it  was  my 
would-be  father-in-law,  and  that  he  slept  with  his  boots 
on — I  suppose  to  save  the  trouble  of  drawing  them  off 


126  AV  THE  BRUSH. 

and  on.  How  or  where  the  rest  of  my  congregation 
slept,  I  do  not  know,  for,  on  getting  into  bed,  I  had 
turned  my  face  to  the  log  wall,  and,  being  exceedingly 
wearied  with  the  labors  of  the  day  and  the  night,  I 
was  soon  oblivious  to  all  around  me,  and  lost  in  sleep. 
AVhen  I  awoke  in  the  morning,  my  friend,  who  had 
shared  the  bed  with  me,  and  who  had  evidently  awaked 
some  time  before,  greeted  me  with  the  friendly  salu- 
tation : 

"  How  dy,  partner  ? "  his  boots,  at  the  moment,  greet- 
ing my  vision  as  they  extended  beyond  our  bed  blank- 
ets or  quilts. 

After  breakfast,  I  bade  good-by  to  the  kind  friends 
whose  rough  but  generous  hospitality  I  had  thus  en- 
joyed, with  many  thanks  on  their  part  for  my  visit, 
with  many  regrets  at  my  departure,  and  with  repeated 
requests  that  I  would  visit  and  preach  for  them  again. 
But  my  farewell  here,  as  in  thousands  of  other  cases, 
was  a  final  farewell.  I  was  not  to  meet  them  again, 
except,  as  is  so  often  sung,  in  one  of  their  wild,  favor- 
ite religious  songs: 

"  When  the  general  roll  is  called." 

During  this  visit  I  learned  that  about  a  hundred 
persons  had  been  converted  in  this  neighborhood  since 
the  visit  of  the  Bible-distributor.  Among  them  were 
about  thirty  members  of  the  family  to  which  I  have 
so  often  alluded,  in  which  this  good  work  had  its  com- 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN   THE  SOUTHWEST.         127 

mencement  in  the  reading  of  that  little  Testament. 
There  had  formerly  been  no  regular  preaching  in  the  im- 
mediate neighborhood,  but  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
minister  had  preached  once  a  month  in  a  private  house 
not  far  from  them.  It  was  the  house  to  which  I  had 
been  directed,  and  the  family  who  had  so  kindly  enter- 
tained me  and  circulated  the  appointment  for  my  first 
sermon  in  the  neighborhood.  The  preacher  was  the 
faithful  man  of  Gocl  who  had  preached  and  officiated 
in  the  marriage  at  the  "  basket-meeting  in  the  Brush " 
which  I  have  already  described.  He  had  changed  the 
place  of  holding  his  meetings,  and  preached  regularly 
once  a  month  in  the  new  log-house  in  which  I  preached 
on  the  night  of  my  arrival.  In  addition  to  his  regular 
services,  he  had  held  protracted  meetings,  and  his  ear- 
nest and  devoted  labors  had  been  greatly  blessed  in  carry- 
ing forward  this  remarkable  work  of  grace.  Methodist 
preachers  had  also  visited  the  neighborhood  at  differ- 
ent times,  and  held  meetings  at  which  numbers  had 
been  hopefully  converted.  All  who  had  made  a  pub- 
lic profession  of  religion  had  united  with  these  two 
denominations,  and  there  was  the  utmost  peace  and 
harmony  among  them.  The  dark  spirit  of  sectarian- 
ism seemed  as  yet  to  have  found  no  place  among  them, 
and  all  who  beheld  them  were  compelled  to  say,  as 
should  be  said  of  all  those  of  different  names  who  pro- 
fess to  be  the  •  disciples  of  Christ,  "Behold  how  these 
brethren  love  one  another." 


128  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  and  for  some  months  be- 
fore, the  only  regular  preaching  in  the  neighborhood 

was  that  once  a  month  by  Mr.  W ,  the  Cumberland 

Presbyterian  minister.  But  they  held  a  prayer-meet- 
ing which  was  conducted  by  themselves  on  all  the  other 
Sabbaths,  and  once  during  each  week.  At  these  meet- 
ings they  read  the  Scriptures,  and  sang  and  prayed, 
and  with  tearful  eyes  and  warm  and  glowing  hearts 
rehearsed  to  their  friends  and  neighbors  the  simple 
story  of  the  love  and  grace  of  God  as  it  had  been  mani- 
fested to  them.  To  those,  who  had  been  familiar  with 
their  former  lives,  there  was  a  convincing,  an  almost 
resistless,  power  in  their  services,  and  they  had  often 
been  owned  of  God  in  the  salvation  of  souls.  Many 
had  been  induced  to  come  long  distances  to  attend  these 
meetings,  and  had  gone  away,  saying,  "  Surely  this  is 
the  work  of  God,  for  only  his  power  could  enable  such 
people  to  offer  such  prayers."  I  was  told  that  even 
the  little  children  had  caught  the  prevailing  spirit,  and 
had  commenced  a  "  play "  that  was  entirely  new  in  the 
neighborhood.  When  their  parents  were  gone  to  night- 
meetings,  as  they  often  were,  the  little  children  who 
were  left  at  home  alone  entertained  themselves  by  play- 
ing "meeting" — going  through  with  all  the  services 
as  they  had  seen  them  at  the  meetings  they  had  attended 
with  their  parents.  I  tried  to  learn  of  one  mother — 
the  one  who  was  so  grateful  that  she  was  not  to  lose 
her  "little  book" — what  her  children  would  say  at 


THE  OLD  BOOK  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.         129 

these  meetings,  but  she  could  only  tell  me  of  one  little 
fellow  four  or  five  years  old,  that  she  pointed  out  to 
me,  who  would  get  up  and  very  seriously  repeat  over 
and  over  the  words,  "  Oh,  them  dear  little  children  in 
heaven !  them  dear  h'ttle  children  in  heaven ! " 

I  was  very  greatly  interested  in  learning  from  the 
remarks  that  I  heard  in  both  this  and  the  surrounding 
neighborhoods  of  the  uniformity  of  sentiment  in  regard 
to  the  religious  character  of  this  work.  In  a  long  con- 
versation with  a  man  who  had  known  these  people  from 
his  boyhood,  and  whose  Christian  heart  had  been  greatly 
rejoiced  at  what  he  had  seen  and  heard,  I  said : 

"  There  must  be  a  very  great  change  among  them  ?  " 

"Indeed  there  is,"  said  he,  emphatically.  "It's  a 
smart  miracle ! " 

Among  all  the  persons  of  different  classes  that  I 
saw,  I  met  no  one  who  seemed  to  doubt  in  the  least 
that  it  was  a  genuine  work  of  grace.  "  It  is  the  Lord's 
doing,  and  it  is  marvelous  in  our  eyes." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CANDIDATING;    OR,    OLD-TIME    METHODS   AND    HUMORS    OF 
OFFICE-SEEKING  IN   THE   SOUTHWEST. 

I  HAVE  found  no  class  of  people  in  the  Southwest  so 
omnipresent  as  office-seeking  politicians.  I  have  visited 
no  neighborhood  so  remote,  no  valley  so  deep,  no  moun- 
tain so  high,  that  the  secluded  cabins  had  not  been  hon- 
ored by  the  visits  of  aspiring  politicians,  eager  to  secure 
the  votes  of  their  "sovereign"  occupants.  In  multi- 
tudes of  such  cabins  and  settlements,  their  first  impres- 
sions in  regard  to  me  were  that  I  was  either  a  sheriff, 
collecting  the  county  and  State  taxes,  or  a  "  candidate  " 
soliciting  votes.  The  one  vocation  was  as  general  and  as 
universally  recognized  as  an  honorable  employment  as 
the  other.  If  I  did  not  make  myself  known  as  a  clergy- 
man as  soon  as  I  arrived  at  many  of  these  out-of-the- 
way  cabins,  I  was  frequently  greeted  with  the  salutation  ; 

"  How  dy,  sir  ?  I  reckon  you  are  a  candidate,  stran- 
ger!" 

Some  months  preceding  each    election   these  aspir- 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.        131 

ants  for  official  honors  publicly  announced  themselves  as 
candidates  for  the  particular  office  that  they  sought.  In 
those  States  where  the  election  was  held  the  first  Mon- 
day in  August,  these  announcements  were  usually  made 
the  preceding  spring  at  the  February  county  or 
circuit  court.  On  such  occasions  the  court  adjourned 
for  the  afternoon,  and  after  dinner  the  crowds  in  at- 
tendance gathered  in  the  court-house,  and,  one  after 
another,  all  the  aspirants  for  all  the  different  offices, 
State  and  national,  came  before  the  assembled  people, 
announced  themselves  as  candidates,  and  set  forth  their 
qualifications  for  the  office  sought  and  their  claims  upon 
the  suffrages  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Sometimes  half 
a  dozen  or  more  would  announce  themselves  as  candi- 
dates for  the  same  office.  In  listening  to  their  speeches 
one  would  be  led  to  think  that  the  chief  excellence  and 
glory  of  our  Constitution  was  that  it  secured  to  every 
citizen  the  right  to  be  an  office-seeker.  "My  fellow- 
citizens,  I  claim  the  right  of  an  American  citizen  to  come 
before  you  and  solicit  your  suffrages,"  was  asserted  by 
a  great  many  of  these  candidates,  and  very  often  by 
those  who  could  present  but  a  sorry  list  of  other  claims 
for  the  office  sought. 

I  have  often  found  these  gatherings  occasions  of  the 
rarest  interest  and  sport.  On  one  occasion  the  candi- 
date's name  was  Coulter,  and  the  office  sought  was  the 
county  clerkship.  The  incumbent  was  a  consumptive,  in 
such  poor  health  that  he  had  been  compelled  to  spend 


132  IN  TEE  BRUSH. 

the  winter  in  a  milder  climate,  and  it  was  doubtful  if 
he  would  be  able  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  office 
another  term.  "My  fellow-citizens,"  said  Mr.  Coulter, 
"  I  am  very  sorry  for  Mr.  Anderson  [who  was  present], 
our  worthy  county  clerk,  sorry  that  his  health  is  so  poor — 
sorry  that  he  was  obliged  to  leave  us  last  winter,  and  go 
and  breathe  the  balmy  breezes  of  a  more  genial  climate. 
But  as  he  was  gone,  and  there  was  some  doubt  about  his 
coming  back,  I  did  not  think  it  would  be  out  of  the  way 
to  try  my  Coulter  a  little.  I  experimented  with  it.  It 
worked  well.  I  tried  it  in  several  precincts.  It  ran 
smooth  and  cut  beautifully.  I  am  so  much  pleased  with 
the  way  it  works  that  I  am  determined  to  enter  it  for  the 
race."  This  play  upon  his  name  was  received  with  great 
favor.  His  old  father  sat  upon  a  table  immediately 
under  the  judge's  seat  from  which  he  spoke,  and  gazed 
up  at  him  with  open  mouth  and  the  most  intense  paren- 
tal pride  and  joy.  The  crowd  cheered  to  the  echo,  and 
I  learned  some  months  afterward  that  this  remarkable 
(?)  display  of  wit  was  rewarded  by  the  clerkship  sought. 

In  these  public  speeches,  and  on  all  other  occasions, 
both  public  and  private,  this  pursuit  of  office  was  always 
spoken  of  as  a  "  race."  The  most  common  remarks  and 
inquiries  in  regard  to  any  political  canvass  were  such 
as  these  : 

"  I  intend  to  make  the  *  race.' "  "  It  will  be  a 
very  close  '  race.'  "  "  Do  you  think  Jones  will  make  the 
1  race  ?  "  "  Smith  has  a  strong  competitor,  but  I  think 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.       133 

lie  will  make  the  '  race.'  "  "  I  will  bet  you  fifty  dollars 
that  Peters  will  make  the  'race.'" 

To  "  make  the  race  "  was  to  secure  an  election. 

On  another  occasion,  I  heard  a  speaker  who  had  been 
a  candidate  for  the  same  office,  and  had  canvassed  his 
county,  making  speeches  in  every  neighborhood,  for 
twelve  successive  years.  Though  I  saw  him  very  often 
and  knew  him  very  well,  I  never  heard  him  speak  but 
once. 

A  part  of  his  speech  I  could  not  forget.  It  was  as 
follows : 

"  Fortunately  or  unfortunately,  my  fellow  -  citizens, 
some  twelve  years  ago  I  was  seized  with  a  strong  desire 
to  represent  my  county  in  the  lower  house  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  my  native  State.  Fellow-citizens,  you  all  know 
me.  I  was  raised  among  you.  I  was  a  poor  boy.  I  am 
a  poor  man  now.  I  ask  you  to  vote  for  me  as  an  encour- 
agement to  the  poor  boys  of  the  county,  that  I  may  be 
an  example  to  them — that  they  may  point  to  me  and 
say,  '  There  is  a  man,  that  was  once  as  poor  as  any  of  us, 
who  has  been  honored  with  a  seat  in  the  Legislature  of 
his  native  State.'  I  have  taught  school  a  good  many 
winters,  and  the  boys  that  I  have  taught  like  me.  They 
will  give  me  their  votes.  I  have  sometimes  thought  I 
should  have  to  teach  school  over  the  county  until  I  had 
taught  boys  enough  to  elect  me." 

I  can  not  go  through  with  all  of  his  speech,  but  his 
peroration  was  too  rich  to  omit : 


134  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

"My  fellow-citizens,  when  I  look  back  over  the 
twelve  years  since  I  became  a  candidate  for  this  office,  I 
feel  encouraged.  When  I  look  back  and  think  of  the 
very  few  that  for  years  gave  me  any  encouragement, 
and  compare  them  with  the  numbers  that  now  promise 
me  their  votes,  I  am  proud  of  my  success.  I  begin  to 
feel  that  my  hopes  are  about  to  be  realized — that  a  ma- 
jority of  my  fellow-citizens  will  honor  me  with  their  suf- 
frages, and  that  I  shall  proudly  go  up  to  the  Capitol 
and  take  my  seat  among  the  legislators  of  the  State. 
But,  fellow-citizens,  if,  unfortunately,  I  should  fail  in 
this  election,  /  take  the  present  opportunity  to  announce 
myself  as  a,  candidate  in  the  next  race" 

This  candidate  was  like  the  suitor  whom  the  lady 
accepted  to  get  rid  of  him.  Though  a  large  number  of 
his  fellow-citizens  were  very  intelligent  men,  they  finally 
concluded  not  to  vote  against  him,  and  allow  him  to  be 
elected.  I  afterward  saw  him  in  the  Legislature,  and 
he  was  certainly  superior  to  some  of  his  colleagues.  He 
introduced  me  to  a  fellow-member  from  the  mountains 
who  could  not  read  or  write  at  all ;  and  told  me,  private- 
ly, that  he  read  and  answered  all  the  letters  that  passed 
between  him  and  his  family  and  constituents.  Mr. 
George  D.  Prentice  was  accustomed  to  give  this  legis- 
lator from  the  mountains  an  almost  daily  notice  in  the 
"  Louisville  Journal." 

After  these  public  announcements  were  made,  the 
candidates  entered  upon  their  work  in  dead  earnest. 


OFFICE-SEEKING   IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.        135 

They  often  issued  printed  handbills,  announcing  the 
days  on  which  they  would  speak  at  different  places. 
They  traveled  together,  and  addressed  the  same  crowds 
in  rotation.  These  political  discussions  between  candi- 
dates for  the  higher  offices,  such  as  governor,  member  of 
Congress,  etc.,  were  often  very  able  and  eloquent.  In- 
deed, I  have  rarely,  if  ever,  heard  more  able  political  dis- 
cussions than  some  of  these.  Where  they  canvassed  a 
State  or  Congressional  district  together,  they  spoke  in 
rotation,  an  hour  each  by  the  watch,  and  then  concluded 
with  half-hour  speeches.  This  gave  to  each  an  oppor- 
tunity to  answer  the  arguments  of  the  other.  As  both 
addressed  the  same  audience,  and  each  was  applauded 
and  cheered  by  his  own  party,  they  were  both  stimulated 
and  excited  to  the  highest  degree  possible.  Each  wished 
not  only  to  gratify  his  political  friends  by  the  ability  and 
skill  with  which  he  discussed  the  questions  at  issue,  but 
to  secure  from  the  audience  as  many  votes  for  himself 
as  possible.  They  were  like  lawyers  before  a  jury,  each 
anxious  to  secure  a  verdict  in  his  own  favor.  I  have  often 
thought  that  th*is  method  of  conducting  a  political  cam- 
paign had  many  advantages  over  that  which  generally 
prevails  in  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States,  where  a  can- 
didate, with  no  ability  to  speak,  is  nominated  by  a  cau- 
cus, and  the  parties  afterward  meet  in  separate  mass- 
meetings,  and  the  speakers  convince  voters  that  are 
already  convinced  and  annihilate  opponents  that  are 
not  there.  In  this  manner  neither  party  has  the 


136  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

opportunity  to  correctly  and  fairly  represent  its  views 
to  the  other. 

But  public  political  discussions  made  but  a  small  part 
of  the  labor  performed  by  the  great  majority  of  these 
candidates.  They  solicited  the  votes  of  the  people  in 
private,  and  on  all  sorts  of  occasions.  Some  of  them 
mounted  their  horses,  and  went  from  house  to  house  to- 
gether as  thoroughly  as  if  they  were  taking  the  census. 
A  story  is  told  of  two  opposing  candidates  who  spent  a 
night  together  at  a  cabin.  Each  was  anxious  to  secure 
the  "  female  influence  "  of  the  family  in  his  own  favor, 
and  one  of  them  took  the  water-bucket  and  started  for 
the  distant  spring  to  get  a  pail  of  water,  thinking  to 
make  a  favorable  impression  on  the  hostess  by  rendering 
her  this  aid  in  preparing  the  coffee  for  their  supper.  His 
opponent,  not  to  be  outdone  by  this  master-stroke  of 
policy,  devoted  himself  to  the  baby  with  such  success 
that  he  won  its  favor,  and  succeeded  in  getting  it  into 
his  arms.  The  other  candidate  returned  from  his  long 
walk  with  his  well-filled  water-bucket,  to  see  his  opponent 
bestowing  the  most  affectionate  caresses  and  kisses  upon 
a  baby  that  very  sadly  needed  a  thorough  application  of 
the  water  he  had  brought,  and  to  hear  him  pour  into  the 
mother's  charmed  ear  abundant  and  glowing  words  of 
praise  for  her  hopeful  child.  The  water-bucket  was  set 
down  in  despair.  It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  say  which  of 
the  candidates  secured  the  vote  from  that  cabin. 

These  candidates  were  always  to  be  found  at  all  large 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST. 

gatherings  of  the  people.  They  were  to  be  seen  at  bar- 
becues, shooting-matches,  corn-huskings,  gander-pullings, 
basket-meetings,  public  theological  discussions,  and  all 
sorts  of  religious  and  other  gatherings  of  the  people. 
Here  they  were  busy  shaking  hands  with  everybody,  and 
using  every  possible  expedient  to  win  their  votes.  My 
friend,  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  W.  W.  Hill,  of  Louisville.  Ken- 
tucky, related  to  me  a  very  characteristic  and  amusing 
incident  illustrating  this  style  of  electioneering. 

While  rusticating,  quite  early  in  his  ministry,  at  a 
somewhat  celebrated  medicinal  spring  among  the  hills, 
he  was  invited  by  his  host  to  go  with  him  to  a  public 
discussion  on  the  question  of  baptism,  that  was  to  come 
off  in  the  neighborhood  between  two  distinguished  cham- 
pions, holding  opposite  views  in  regard  to  the  "  subjects  " 

and  "  mode  "  of  baptism.     Judge  C ,  a  candidate  for 

Congress  from  that  district,  who  had  a  very  wide  reputa- 
tion as  a  skillful  and  successful  electioneerer,  was  present, 
as  polite  and  busy  as  possible,  shaking  hands  with  every- 
body, and  inquiring  with  wonderful  solicitude  after  the 
health  of  their  wives  and  families.  At  the  close  of  the 
services,  or,  as  the  people  there  would  say,  "  when  the 
meeting  broke,"  his  host  invited  the  Judge  and  several  of 
his  neighbors  to  go  home  with  him  and  eat  peaches-and- 
cream.  He  said  his  peaches  were  very  fine,  and  his  wife 
had  saved  a  plenty  of  nice  cream  for  the  occasion.  The 
invitation  was  accepted,  and  a  very  pleasant  party  ac- 
companied him  to  his  house.  When  the  company  were 


138  I&  TEE  BRUSH. 

seated  at  the  table,  the  Judge  found  the  peaches  very- 
rare,  the  cream  delicious,  and  was  profuse  in  his  compli- 
ments to  both  host  and  hostess.  At  length  the  host 
said: 

"  Well,  Judge,  what  did  you  think  of  the  discussion 
to-day?" 

"  The  discussion,"  said  the  Judge,  glancing  up 
and  down  the  table,  and  speaking  as  if  rendering 
a  judicial  decision  from  the  bench,  "  was  very  able 
on  both  sides.  The  preachers  acquitted  themselves 
most  honorably,  most  handsomely.  And  yet  I  must 
say  in  all  honesty  that  Parson  Waller  [the  Baptist] 
was  rather  too  much  for  Parson  Clarke  [the  Methodist]. 
He  had  the  advantage  of  him  on  a  good  many  points. 
But,  then,  he  had  the  advantage  of  him  so  far  as  the 
merits  of  the  question  are  concerned,  /  think.  The 
Greek  settles  that  question.  Bldbtow  may  not  always, 
in  all  circumstances,  mean  'immerse,'  but  blabtezer,  its 
derivative,  means  immerse — go  in  all  over — every  time. 
There's  no  getting  away  from  that." 

"  What  did  you  say  that  Greek  word  was  that  always 
means  '  immerse '  ? "  said  my  friend,  the  young  Presby- 
terian preacher,  a  recent  graduate  of  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  who  was  sitting  immediately  opposite 
the  Judge. 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  Greek?"  responded 
the  Judge. 

"Not  much,"  replied  the  young  preacher. 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.       139 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  it?  Have  you 
ever  studied  it  at  all?"  continued  the  Judge. 

"I  have  studied  and  read  it  some  for  about  a 
dozen  years,"  rejoined  my  friend. 

The  Judge  immediately  started  off  upon  an  episode 
full  of  anecdote  and  amusement,  and  did  not  get  back 
to  answer  the  question  in  regard  to  the  Greek  while 
the  company  remained  at  the  table. 

The  Doctor  informed  me  that,  as  they  left  the 
table,  he  walked  off  alone  into  the  garden,  but  was 
soon  overtaken  by  the  Judge,  who  exclaimed  : 

"  Where  did  you  come  from,  stranger,  and  how  did 
you  get  among  these  hills,  a  man  that  has  studied 
Greek  a  dozen  years?  Now  let  me  own  up.  I  don't 
know  a  thing  about  Greek;  never  studied  it  at  all.  I 
don't  know  a  Greek  letter  from  a  turkey  -  track.  I 
am  a  candidate  for  Congress,  out  on  an  electioneering 
excursion.  I  knew  everybody  at  the  table  but  you, 
and  I  saw  that  it  was  a  Baptist  crowd.  I  wanted  to 
win  their  favor  and  get  their  votes.  I  heard  Parson 
Smith  preach  on  baptism  in  the  city  last  winter,  and 
I  was  giving  them  his  Greek  as  well  as  I  could  re- 
member it.  Now,"  said  the  Judge,  with  a  jolly  laugh 
at  the  ridiculousness  of  his  position,  "if  you  let  this 
out  on  me  so  that  my  opponent  can  get  hold  of  it 
before  I  am  through  this  canvass,  I'll  never  forgive 
you." 

It  is   but   simple    justice    to  these   Baptists  to   say 


140  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

that,  had  the  Judge  chanced  to  dine  and  eat  peaches- 
and-cream  that  day  with  a  company  of  adherents 
of  the  other  champion,  his  predilections  would  have 
been  just  as  strong  in  favor  of  Parson  Clarke,  and 
he  would  have  marshaled  his  Greek  just  as  positively 
in  favor  of  "  infants  "  as  "  subjects  "  and  "  sprinkling  " 
as  the  "mode." 

I  am  sure  I  shall  be  pardoned  if  I  interrupt  the 
flow  of  my  narrative  to  speak  of  what  seems  to  me 
the  remarkable  fact  that,  more  than  forty  years  after 
the  scenes  I  have  just  described,  I  am  able  to  say  that 
the  "Parson  Smith,"  so  named  by  the  candidate  as 
furnishing  his  Greek,  was  a  revered  friend  whom, 
until  quite  recently,  I  had  not  met  for  more  than 
twenty  years ;  to  whose  hospitable  home,  cheered  by 
the  bright  sunshine  of  one  of  the  noblest  and  the  best 
of  wives  and  mothers,  I  was  for  years  welcomed  on 
my  return  from  my  long  horseback  journeys,  with  a 
cordiality  as  warm,  I  am  sure,  as  though  I  had  been  a 
member  of  his  own  ecclesiastical  fold  or  diocese, 
who,  now  in  his  eighty-eighth  year,  resides  in  New 
York  City,  the  honored  and  beloved  senior  Bishop  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States. 

And  I  take  great  pleasure  in  saying  that  no 
bishop  or  member  of  his  own  Church  or  any  other, 
who  has  not,  as  I  have,  often  met  him  in  his  pa- 
rochial journeyings,  traveled  over  thousands  on  thou- 
sands of  miles  of  the  same  indescribably  rough  roads, 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST. 

climbed  on  horseback  the  same  steep  mountain-paths, 
and  partaken  of  the  rough  but  generous  hospitality 
of  the  same  rude  cabins,  can  possibly  understand 
with  what  patience,  with  what  energy,  with  what  un- 
conquerable devotion,  he  has  thus  toiled  for  wellnigh 
half  a  century  for  the  dear  Church  and  the  dearer 
Master  he  has  so  long  loved  and  served  with  such 
pure  and  glowing  love. 

One  scene  in  the  life  of  the  venerable  Bishop  is 
worthy  of  the  pencil  of  the  most  accomplished  artist, 
worthy  to  be  inscribed  upon  the  walls  of  the  na- 
tional Capitol  as  a  companion  to  Bierstadt's  "Emi- 
grants crossing  the  Plains,"  illustrating  as  it  does 
the  manner  in  which  the  heroic  heralds  of  the  cross 
have  ever  accompanied  and  followed  our  bold  and 
daring  emigrants,  and  in  every  new  State  laid,  broad 
and  deep,  the  foundations  of  learning  and  religion  by 
establishing  the  CHTJECH  and  the  SCHOOL. 

Having  in  his  extended  parochial  travels  become 
painfully  conscious  of  the  need  of  increased  efficiency 
in  the  public-school  system  of  the  State,  he  accept- 
ed, and  discharged  for  two  years — 1839  and  1840 — 
the  duties  of  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 
To  this  work,  in  addition  to  his  Episcopal  duties,  he 
devoted  himself  with  untiring  energy  and  zeal,  visit- 
ing and  making  educational  addresses  in  seventy-six 
out  of  the  then  ninety-one  counties  of  the  State. 

Many  of  these  counties  could  only  be  visited  on  horse- 

7 


142  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

back,  the  only  wheeled  vehicle  ever  seen  by  the  in- 
habitants being  the  cart  in  which  the  laws  passed 
by  successive  legislatures  were  transmitted  to  the 
different  county-seats. 

On  one  of  these  journeys  the  Bishop  found  at  a 
mountain  -  inn  a  Methodist  circuit  -  rider,  class  -  leader, 
steward,  and  local  preacher,  assembled  for  an  "offi- 
cial meeting."  All  hearts  beat  in  the  warmest  Chris- 
tian sympathy.  As,  after  a  frugal  meal,  the  Bishop's 
horse  was  brought  to  the  door,  and  he  was  about 
to  renew  his  journey,  all  these  heroic  Christian 
workers  gathered  sympathizingly  and  helpfully  around 
him,  one  holding  his  horse  by  the  bridle,  another 
holding  the  stirrups,  and  the  others  helping  him  to 
mount.  When  fairly  seated  in  his  saddle,  the  Bishop 
reverently  uncovered  his  head,  and,  lifting  his  hand 
to  heaven,  said :  "  Send,  Lord,  by  whom  thou  wilt 
send,  but  send  help  to  the  mountains ! "  to  which 
they  all  responded  with  a  hearty  Methodistic  "Amen 
and  Amen." 

The  method  of  private  electioneering  by  going 
from  house  to  house,  or  attending  such  gatherings 
unattended  by  an  opponent,  was  called  electioneering 
on  the  still  hunt.  In  pursuing  the  wild  game  of  those 
regions  two  methods  were  adopted.  Sometimes  the 
hunters  went  in  large  parties,  with  horses,  hounds,  and 
horns,  and  pursued  and  killed  their  game  by  these 
public  and  noisy  demonstrations.  At  other  times 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.        143 

they  went  alone  and  quietly  through  the  fields  and 
woods,  came  upon  their  game  noiselessly,  and  killed 
it  by  stealth.  This  latter  method  was  called  by  the 
people  "the  still  hunt"  In  like  manner,  the  politi- 
cians had  two  methods  of  electioneering,  as  already 
described.  The  one  was  by  public  gatherings  and  by 
public  speeches ;  the  other  was  by  these  more  pri- 
vate and  quiet  measures,  to  which  they  appropriated 
this  old  phrase  from  the  hunter's  vocabulary,  and 
called  "the  still  hunt"  I  remember  on  one  occasion 
hearing  two  candidates  for  the  office  of  sheriff  ad- 
dress a  crowd  in  one  of  the  wildest  regions  in  the 
Southwest,  each  in  advocacy  of  his  own  claims.  One 
of  them  was  quite  an  effective  and  the  other  a  very 
indifferent  speaker.  In  a  conversation  with  the  for- 
mer, at  the  conclusion  of  the  discussion,  I  told  him 
that,  judging  from  the  speeches,  and  the  responses 
they  received  from  the  crowd,  I  thought  his  chances 
must  be  altogether  the  best  for  securing  the  election. 

"  Ah,"  said  he,  "  it  won't  do  to  judge  by  the  speech- 
es, or  to  depend  upon  them  to  secure  an  election.  My 
opponent  is  the. hardest  sort  of  a  man  to  beat.  He  is 
powerful  on  the  still  hunt." 

Many  of  these  candidates  displayed  most  wonderful 
industry  and  energy  in  this  "still-hunt"  method  of  elec- 
tioneering. In  a  conference  with  the  officers  of  a  county 
Bible  Society,  in  regard  to  the  time  it  would  take  a  Bible- 
distributor  to  visit  every  family  in  the  county,  for  the 


IN  TEE  BRUSH. 

purpose  of  supplying  them  with  a  copy  of  the  Bible  by 
sale  or  gift,  one  of  them  gave  his  experience  in  canvass- 
ing the  county  for  the  office  of  prosecuting  attorney, 
told  how  many  families  he  could  visit  in  a  day,  and  said 
he  thought  it  would  not  take  the  Bible-distributor  longer 
to  make  his  visits  than  he  took  to  persuade  them  to  vote 
for  him.  This  was  a  new  and  very  satisfactory  method 
of  arriving  at  the  time  really  required  for  a  thorough 
religious  canvass  of  the  county. 

The  "still-hunt"  method  of  electioneering  also  de- 
veloped and  gave  occasion  for  the  display  of  great  tact 
and  skill  in  influencing  every  variety  of  mind  and  char- 
acter. Arguments  in  regard  to  the  questions  at  issue 
were  often  of  the  least  possible  influence  and  importance 
in  securing  votes.  A  lady,  whose  guest  I  was,  told  me 
that  the  member  of  Congress  from  the  district  in  which 
she  resided,  who  had  been  reelected  a  great  many  times, 
and  was  at  that  time  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, had  often  visited  her  house  and  neighborhood. 
She  said  that,  when  he  first  began  to  canvass  his  district 
for  Congress,  he  always  carried  his  fiddle  with  him,  and 
made  very  indifferent  speeches  to  the  people  in  the  day- 
time, but  played  the  fiddle,  greatly  to  their  admiration, 
for  their  dances  at  night.  His  fiddling  and  dancing,  fine 
personal  appearance,  and  wonderful  skill  and  tact  in 
mingling  with  the  people  and  securing  their  personal 
admiration  and  favor,  were  far  more  effective  than  his 
speeches,  and  enabled  him  to  "  make  the  race "  against 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.       145 

all  competitors.  He  was  a  remarkable  illustration  of  tlie 
success  of  the  "  still-hunt "  method  of  electioneering. 
"With  a  most  indifferent  early  education,  without  a 
knowledge  of  English  grammar  at  the  commencement 
of  his  Congressional  career,  he  was  reflected  so  often, 
and  continued  in  Congress  so  long,  that  he  became  per- 
fectly conversant  with  his  duties,  served  on  nearly  or 
quite  every  committee,  was  made  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Ways  and  Means,  became  the  recognized  leader 
of  his  party,  and  was  ultimately  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  through  two  Congresses — from  Decem- 
ber 1,  1851,  to  March  4,  1855.  "With  these  long  years 
of  Congressional  experience,  he  became  a  very  effective 
stump-speaker,  and  this,  with  his  "  still-hunt "  powers, 
enabled  him  to  secure  his  reelection  again  and  again 
for  some  thirty  years,  until  he  quite  wore  out  the  pa- 
tience of  the  aspiring  members  of  his  own  party  who 
were  anxious  for  "rotation"  in  the  office. 

After  growing  gray  in  the  service,  he  was  at  length 
beaten  by  a  youthful  member  of  his  own  party  on  this 
wise :  It  was  one  of  the  established  laws  of  conducting  a 
political  canvass  of  the  district  that,  after  the  different 
persons  had  announced  themselves  as  candidates  for  an 
office,  no  one  of  them  should  call  a  meeting  or  address 
an  audience  in  any  part  of  the  district  without  notifying 
all  the  other  candidates,  that  they  might  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  be  present  to  answer  their  opponent  and  make 
a  plea  in  their  own  behalf.  A  young  and  aspiring  mem- 


146  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

• 

ber  of  the  party,  whose  father  had  grown  gray  in  the 
vaiii  hope  of  a  "rotation"  in  this  office  in  his  favor, 
determined  to  take  advantage  of  this  "  established  law  " 
of  the  party,  and,  if  possible,  secure  for  himself  the  office 
for  which  his  venerable  father  had  so  long  waited  in 
vain.  lie  accordingly  announced  himself  as  a  candidate 
for  the  office,  purchased  a  very  superior  horse — there 
wras  then  no  railroad  in  the  district — published  a  list  of 
appointments  to  address  the  people  of  the  district  at 
different  places  on  successive  days,  but  made  these  ap- 
pointments so  far  apart — some  eighty  miles  or  more — 
that  it  was  impossible  for  his  venerable  opponent  to  ride 
the  distance.  He  had  complied  with  the  "  letter  of  the 
law,"  but  it  was  one  of  those  cases  where  "the  letter 
killeth."  Young,  vigorous,  and  possessing  great  powers 
of  endurance,  he  would  address  the  people  at  one  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  and  then  make  a  long  ride  far  into  the 
night  if  necessary,  and  start  early  in  the  morning  and 
ride  an  equal  distance  to  the  next  afternoon  appointment. 
In  this  manner  he  canvassed  the  district  alone.  He 
made  his  speeches  and  had  no  one  to  answer  them.  He 
had  the  fullest  possible  opportunity  to  tell  the  people 
how  long  they  had  honored  his  opponent,  that  he  had  no 
further  possible  claims  Upon  their  suffrages,  and  to  make 
very  earnest  and  even  pathetic  appeals  in  his  own  behalf. 
His  venerable  opponent  was  not  present  to  counteract 
the  force  of  these  appeals,  either  by  the  eloquence  he 
had  acquired  in  Congress,  or  with  his  once  effective  fid- 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.        147 

• 

die;  and  so  this  son  of  a  disappointed  office-seeking 
father  not  only  triumphed  in  the  horseback  "  race,"  but 
"  made  the  political  race  "  for  the  office  sought,  and  took 
his  seat  in  Congress.  I  heard  him  make  several  speeches 
to  his  constituents,  but  thought  them  far  less  remarkable 
than  the  John  Gilpin  features  of  his  political  campaign. 

I  have  already  remarked  that  sometimes  as  many  as 
half  a  dozen  persons  would  announce  themselves  as  candi- 
dates for  the  same  office  at  the  opening  of  a  political  cam- 
paign. As  the  canvass  progressed,  one  after  another 
would  become  satisfied  that  his  prospects  were  entirely 
hopeless,  and  publicly  announce  his  withdrawal  from  the 
race.  On  one  occasion  I  heard  a  candidate  announce  his 
withdrawal  in  a  speech  that  I  thought  described  the  con- 
dition of  a  great  many  politicians.  It  was  as  follows : 

"  My  fellow-citizens,  I  came  before  you  at  the  open- 
ing of  this  campaign  and  announced  myself  as  a  candi- 
date for  sheriff  of  the  county.  I  now  appear  before  you 
to  withdraw  from  the  race.  I  have  a  great  many  friends, 
strong  friends.  They  stand  up  to  me  nobly.  Nobody 
could  wish  for  better  friends.  There  is  only  this  one 
trouble  in  my  case — Ihatoetft  got  quite  enough  of  them. 

"  I  have  already  gone  so  far  in  this  race  that  I  don't 
know  myself.  I  have  lost  myself  entirely.  When  I 
go  into  the  different  precincts  and  hear  all  the  tales  that 
they  have  got  afloat  about  me,  and  the  character  that 
they  give  me,  it  is  somebody  that  I  don't  know  any- 
thing about — somebody  that  I  never  heard  of  before. 


148  IN-  THE  BRUSH. 

Fellow-citizens,  it  isn't  me,  I  assure  you,  that  they  are 
talking  about.  They  have  mistaken  the  man.  If  any 
of  you  should  want  to  know  anything  about  me,  just 
ask  the  boys  in  my  precinct.  They  know  me.  They 
will  tell  you.  They  all  stand  up  for  me." 

I  will  relate  but  one  more  veritable  incident  to  illus- 
trate political  life  in  the  Brush,  and  to  show  the  expe- 
dients sometimes  resorted  to  by  able  and  eloquent  men 
to  make  sure  of  an  election  to  an  important  office.  I  had 
spent  a  Sabbath  and  preached  in  behalf  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society  at  a  small  county-seat  town  upon  one 
of  the  large  rivers  in  the  Southwest.  "WTiile  at  breakfast 
on  Monday  morning,  the  circuit  judge  of  that  judicial 
district,  who  was  a  resident  of  the  village,  sent  his  col- 
ored boy  to  the  house  where  I  was  staying,  with  the 
message  that  lie  had  heard  that  I  was  going  to  Big 
Spring  that  day,  and  he  wished  to  know  whether  I 
was  going  in  the  morning  or  afternoon.  He  said  that 
he  had  expected  to  go  there  in  the  morning,  but  if 
he  could  have  my  company  he  would  defer  his  ride. 
As  I  had  an  appointment  to  meet  the  officers  of  the 
county  Bible  Society,  and  attend  to  the  appointment 
of  a  Bible  -  distributor,  and  order  Bibles  from  New 
York  for  the  supply  of  the  county,  I  sent  back  word 
to  him  that  I  could  not  close  up  my  business  so  as  to 
leave  until  afternoon. 

After  dinner  we  mounted  our  horses  and  started 
upon  our  pleasant  ride  of  about  twenty  miles.  The 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  TIIE  SOUTHWEST.        149 

day  was  pleasant,  the  distance  not  great,  the  Judge  was 
intelligent  and  a  very  fine  talker,  and  I  enjoyed  the 
ride  greatly.  In  former  visits  to  the  village  I  had 
been  a  guest  in  his  family,  when  he  had  been  absent 
from  home,  holding  his  courts  in  distant  parts  of  his 
district,  so  that  I  had  not  before  become  as  well  ac- 
quainted with  him  as  I  was  with  his  family. 

I  had  been  greatly  interested  and  delighted  with  my 
long  conversations  with  his  venerable  mother,  and  on 
her  account  I  was  very  happy  to  enjoy  this  long  horse- 
back-ride and  pleasant  talk  with,  her  distinguished  son. 
She  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  remarkable 
women  I  have  ever  met  in  any  part  of  our  country. 
She  was  one  among  the  first  white  children  born  west 
of  the  Alleghanies.  Her  father  had  participated  in 
the  early  Indian  wars,  and  her  recollections  and  rehear- 
sals of  the  thrilling  scenes  of  early  border  life  and 
warfare,  were  the  most  vivid  and  interesting  of  any  to 
which  I  have  ever  listened.  Born  in  a  frontier  cabin, 
with  but  few  neighbors,  surrounded  by  wild  beasts  and 
Indians,  the  toils,  hardships,  and  excitements  of  their 
pioneer  life  gave  little  opportunity  for  education,  and 
she  told  me  that  her  entire  school-life  was  less  than 
nine  months.  And  yet  I  have  rarely  conversed  with, 
any  one  whose  language  was  more  smooth,  correct,  and 
elevated.  The  secret  of  this  seemed  to  lie  in  the  fact 
that  she  had  read  and  reread  the  writings  of  Sir  Wal- 
ter Scott  until  not  only  all  his  sentiments  and  charac- 


150  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

ters,  but  his  very  style,  had  become  her  own.  She 
would  repeat  his  poetry  by  the  hour  with  wonderful 
taste  and  beauty.  Scotch  blood  flowed  in  her  veins, 
and  the  warmest  love  of  the  fatherland  glowed  in  her 
heart.  With  a  wonderful  command  of  language,  with 
an  easy,  elevated,  and  flowing  style,  she  would  for 
hours  together  relate  the  thrilling  scenes  of  her  child- 
hood, and  the  varied  incidents  of  her  early  border  life. 
Her  admiration  of  her  father,  and  especially  of  his 
bravery,  was  unbounded.  I  remember  the  pride  with 
which  she  told  me  of  a  visit  she  once  received  from 
a  veteran  hunter  and  Indian  fighter,  who  had  been  a 
companion  of  her  father  in  those  early  struggles  and 
conflicts,  and  of  the  fervor  of  his  parting  benediction ; 
"  Jenny,  God  bless  you,  you  are  the  child  of  a  HERO, 
as  brave  as  ever  shouldered  a  rifle ! " 

Kind  and  genial,  as  full  of  sunshine  as  of  stories  of 
the  olden  time,  beloved  by  old  and  young,  the  evening 
of  her  life  was  truly  beautiful.  Many  years  have  passed 
since  I  saw  the  dear  old  lady,  and  I  do  not  know  that 
she  is  now  alive,  but  I  do  know  that  she  has  not  been 
forgotten.  Her  measured,  flowing  periods  still  roll  on 
in  my  memory,  her  quiet,  sunny  smile  beams  on  me 
now,  as  when  I  sat  at  her  hospitable  hearth  and  board. 

I  was  very  happy  to  have  an  otherwise  lonely  af- 
ternoon's ride  beguiled  with  the  company  of  the  son 
of  such  a  mother.  I  had  never  heard  the  Judge  speak, 
either  in  court  or  upon  the  stump;  but  he  had  an 


OFFICE-SEEKING  Itf  THE  SOUTHWEST.        151 

established  reputation  as  an  able  lawyer  and  eloquent 
speaker.  I  soon  found  that  he  had  inherited  the  con- 
versational powers  of  his  mother,  and  the  time  wore 
pleasantly  away  as  we  rode  on.  At  length  our  con- 
versation turned  upon  the  present  method  of  attaining 
judicial  and  all  other  offices,  and  he  gave  me  the  follow- 
ing chapter  in  his  own  experience,  which  I  reproduce 
from  memory.  In  justice  to  my  friend  the  Judge,  I 
should  say  that  he  expressed  himself  as  entirely  op- 
posed in  principle  to  an  elective  judiciary,  and  gave 
this  chapter  in  his  own  experience  as  an  illustration 
of  the  way  in  which  even  a  judicial  election  could 
be  carried. 

"  I  made,"  said  the  Judge,  "  a  very  thorough  canvass 
of  the  district  with  my  opponent.  We  closed  our  public 
discussions,  and  I  returned  home  a  few  days  before  the 
election,  which  was  to  come  off  on  the  first  Monday  in 

August.     My  opponent  was  Judge  K ,  whom  you 

know  as  a  very  worthy  man,  a  perfect  gentleman,  and  a 
superior  judge.  He  was  honored  by  the  bar,  popular 
with  the  people,  and  a  very  hard  man  to  defeat.  He  had 
held  the  office  several  years.  I  wanted  it,  had  worked 
very  hard  for  it,  and  was  determined  to  gain  it  if  possi- 
ble. I  looked  over  the  district  very  carefully,  made  the 
closest  estimate  I  could,  and  found  I  should  be  defeated 
unless  I  could  make  very  heavy  gains  in  some  precinct. 
It  was  a  desperate  ease,  and  I  could  in  honor  only  elec- 
tioneer on  the  '  still  hunt.'  I  concluded  to  mount  my 


IN  THE 

horse  and  ride  to  C—  -  F ,  which  you  have  visited, 

and  know  is  about  the  most  ignorant  and  uncivilized  re- 
gion in  the  State.  I  thought  it  more  than  probable  that 
I  would  find  a  barbecue-dance  in  progress  there  on  Sat- 
urday afternoon,  at  which  all  the  people  in  the  precinct 
would  be  present.  When  I  arrived  I  found  a  dance  in 
full  progress  in  the  open  air  under  the  trees,  and  an  ox 
roasting  over  the  fire  near  by.  It  was  the  last  of  July,  and 
very  hot  and  very  dry.  A  perfect  cone  of  dust  arose 
above  the  crowd,  in  which  all  the  dancers  were  envel- 
oped. It  was  a  strange,  wild  scene — a  scene  to  be  wit- 
nessed nowhere  else  but  in  the  wildest  portions  of  our 
southwestern  wilds.  There  were  old  men  and  old 
grizzly-headed  women,  young  men  and  young  women, 
parents  and  children,  grandparents  and  grandchildren,  all 
mingling  together  and  dancing  with  backwoods  energy 
and  wild  delight.  As  I  dismounted,  hitched  my  horse, 
and  went  up  and  joined  those  that  were  looking  on,  one 
and  another  saluted  me,  very  respectfully,  with 

" '  How  dy,  Broadcloth  2 ' 

"  As  the  weather  was  very  warm,  I  had  worn  from 
home  a  black  alpaca  sack-coat.  This  was  the  only  devia- 
tion from  home-made  butternut-colored  jeans  in  the  en- 
tire crowd.  My  black  coat,  therefore,  distinguished  me 
from  everybody  else ;  and  as  I  walked  about  among  the 
people  the  invariable  salutation  was, 

"'Howdy,  Broadcloth?' 

"  I  moved  around  among  them  very  quietly  an  hour 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.       153 

or  more,  observing  all  that  was  going  on,  and  watching 
for  the  most  favorable  opportunity  to  make  myself  known 
to  them  and  win  their  favor.  At  length  my  course  was 
clearly  settled  in  my  own  mind.  I  saw  what  would  be 
my  opportunity.  I  could  see  that  the  fiddler  was  already 
so  drunk  that  he  would  fall  off  the  block,  dead  drunk 
before  a  great  while.  I  had  learned  to  play  the  fiddle 
when  a  boy.  I  could  take  the  fiddler's  place,  and  pre- 
vent the  calamity  of  a  complete  break-up  of  the  dance. 

"  His  powers  of  motion  failed  sooner  than  I  had  ex- 
pected, and  there  was  great  sorrow  in  all  the  company. 
After  a  while  I  intimated  quietly  to  some  of  them  that  I 
could  play  the  fiddle,  and  they  shouted  at  the  top  of 
their  voices : 

"'Broadcloth  can  fiddle!  Broadcloth  can  fiddle! 
Hurra  for  Broadcloth ! ' 

"  '  At  once  there  was  a  general  rush  of  the  company 
about  me,  all  of  them  imploring  me  to  take  the  fiddle 
and  play  for  them.  I  replied,  very  positively  : 

" '  No,  gentlemen,  I  won't  fiddle  for  you ! ' 

" '  Why  not,  Broadcloth  ?  Why  not  ? '  they  all  re- 
sponded. 

" '  I  will  tell  you  why  not,'  I  said.  '  I  came  here  a 
stranger,  and  you  haven't  treated  me  with  any  civility  at 
all ;  you  haven't  invited  me  to  dance ;  haven't  intro- 
duced me  to  the  ladies ;  haven't  made  me  one  of  your- 
selves at  all ;  and  I  won't  fiddle  for  you.' 

"  But  they  made  so  many  apologies  for  the  past  and 


154  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

promises  for  the  future  that  I  finally  relented,  changed 
my  mind,  and  agreed  to  fiddle  for  them.  This  an- 
nouncement was  greeted  with  a  general  shout  of  joy.  I 
then  began  to  brag  in  the  most  extravagant  manner  pos- 
sible. I  told  them  that,  when  they  saw  me  draw  the 
bow,  it  would  be  such  music  as  they  had  never  heard 
since  they  were  born.  I  took  off  my  coat,  unbuttoned 
my  shirt,  rolled  up  my  sleeves,  took  the  fiddle,  and  drew 
the  bow  across  it,  back  and  forth,  for  a  minute  or  two, 
with  all  my  might.  They  responded  to  this  very  noisy 
musical  demonstration  with  a  scream  and  yell  of  wild 
delight  and  a  '  Hurra  for  Broadcloth ! '  I  took  my  seat 
and  began  to  play  just  before  sundown,  and  played — 
until  the  sun  was  up  the  next  morning.  During  the 
night  they  came  around  me,  and  said  : 

" '  Who  are  you,  Broadcloth,  anyway  ? ' 

"  I  told  them  I  was  a  candidate. 

"  They  shouted : 

" '  Broadcloth  is  a  candidate !  Hurra  for  Broad- 
cloth ! '  And  then  asked  me  what  I  was  a  candidate 
for. 

"  I  told  them  I  was  a  candidate  for  circuit  judge,  and 
they  repeated : 

" '  Broadcloth  is  a  candidate  for  circuit  judge. 
Hurra  for  Broadcloth  for  circuit  judge ! ' 

"This  was  as  much  information  as  I  dared  to  give 
them  in  one  installment.  I  did  not  wish  to  give  them 
any  more  until  what  I  had  told  them  was  perfectly  fixed 


OFFICE-SEEKING  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.       155 

in  their  minds,  so  that  they  would  not  make  any  mistake 
when  they  came  to  vote  on  the  following  Monday. 

"  One  of  them,  a  little  more  thoughtful  than  the  rest, 
came  to  me  afterward,  and,  applying  an  oath  to  the  party 

to  which  I  belonged,  said  he  hoped  I  was  not  a  

.  I  did  not,  in  behalf  of  myself  or  party,  resent  the 

oath  or  favor  him  with  any  definite  reply  to  his  ques- 
tion. I  knew  that  the  greater  part  of  the  company  gen- 
erally voted  with  the  opposite  party,  and  that,  enthusi- 
astic as  they  now  were  in  my  favor,  too  much  informa- 
tion on  this  point  would  be  fatal  to  my  prospects.  I  felt 
quite  sure  that  neither  my  opponent  nor  any  of  his 
friends  would  give  them  this  information,  and  undo  the 
work  I  had  accomplished  between  that  time  and  Monday 
morning. 

"  As  the  morning  dawned,  in  response  to  the  inquiries 
of  some  of  the  more  enthusiastic  of  my  friends,  I  gave 
them  my  name  in  full,  which  was  greeted  and  repeated 
in  cheer  after  cheer. 

"  When  I  bade  them  good-by,  mounted  my  horse  and 
rode  away,  they  followed  me  with  their  cheers,  and 
when  out  of  sight  among  the  dense  forest  trees  I  could 
still  hear  their  enthusiastic 

" '  Hurra  for  S ,  candidate  for  circuit  judge ! ' 

"When  the  election  returns  were  announced,  every 

vote  in  the  C F precinct  had  been  cast  for  me. 

That  night's  work  with  the  fiddle  secured  my  election." 


CHAPTER  X. 

SOME    STRANGE    EXPERIENCES    WITH    A    CANDIDATE    IN    THE 

BRUSH. 

HAVING  made  arrangements  with   Father  E ,  a 

venerable  and  faithful  Bible-distributor,  to  canvass  a 
very  rough,  wild  country,  I  determined  to  visit  the 
county-seat,  and  address  as  many  of  the  people  as  could 
be  assembled.  I  did  this  for  the  purpose  of  explaining 
to  them  that  the  entire  State  and  country  were  being 
canvassed  in  this  manner,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
every  family  that  would  receive  it  with  a  copy  of  the 
Bible,  either  by  sale  or  gift.  As  they  had  been  so  much 
imposed  upon  by  wandering  peddlers,  I  found  it  very 
important  to  explain  to  them  that  it  was  not  a  money- 
making  enterprise — that  the  books  sold  were  furnished 
to  them  at  cost.  It  was  also  my  invariable  custom  to 
solicit  a  collection  for  the  Bible  Society,  wherever  I 
preached,  however  poor  the  people  might  be.  It  in- 
creased their  self-respect  to  give  them  this  opportunity 
to  aid  in  supplying  their  own  destitute  poor  with  the 
Word  of  God. 


STRANGE  EXPERIENCES   WITH  A    CANDIDATE.  157 

My  ride  to  B ,  the  county-seat,  was  through  a 

rough,  wild,  and  broken  region.  This  may  be  judged 
from  the  fact  that  the  average  value  of  the  land,  im- 
proved and  unimproved,  of  the  entire  county,  as  re- 
turned by  the  assessors,  and  published  in  the  Report  of 
the  Auditor  of  the  State  for  the  preceding  year,  was  but 
one  dollar  and  seventy-nine  cents  per  acre.  Even  this 
was  a  little  more  valuable  than  the  land  of  an  adjoining 
county  that  I  explored  most  thoroughly,  the  average 
value  of  which,  as  published  in  the  same  Report,  was 
one  dollar  and  seventy-four  cents  per  acre.  Yet  these 
counties  had  been  settled  more  than  fifty  years. 

Arriving  at  the  little  village,  a  perfect  stranger,  my 
first  inquiry  was  for  some  professor  of  religion  who 
would  be  likely  to  take  an  interest  in  my  work,  and  aid 
me  to  make  arrangements,  if  possible,  to  preach  there  the 
following  Sabbath.  I  was  directed  by  my  host  to  call 
on  the  school-master  of  the  place,  whom  I  found  to  be 
an  old  man  more  than  sixty  years  of  age,  who  gave  me 
a  warm  welcome,  and  cheerfully  rendered  me  the  de- 
sired aid.  Upon  inquiry,  we  learned  that  the  court- 
house, which  was  the  place  used  by  all  denominations  for 
preaching,  would  not  be  occupied  the  next  Sabbath,  and 
accordingly  it  was  arranged  thaf  a  notice  should  be  cir- 
culated that  I  would  preach  there  on  that  day,  at  4 
p.  M.  This  accomplished,  I  left  the  village  to  attend 
to  other  duties,  and  await  the  Sabbath. 

As  there  was  no  newspaper  at  this  county-seat,  and 


158  I2T  THE  BRUSH. 

but  a  very  few  families  resided  there,  and  only  a  few 
days  intervening,  the  uninitiated  in  southwestern  back- 
woods life  will  wonder  how  the  people  in  the  adjacent 
hills  and  valleys  were  to  be  notified  of  this  service  and 
a  congregation  assembled.  But  I  had  been  long  enough 
in  the  Brush  to  have  no  apprehensions  upon  this  point. 
I  knew  that  they  would  not  only  all  be  notified  for  miles 
around,  but  that  the  most  of  them  would  be  present.  I 
have  found  by  experience  that  it  is  one  of  the  peculiar- 
ities of  the  wilder  and  wildest  portions  of  the  country, 
that  the  people  will  be  at  the  greatest  possible  pains  to 
notify  their  neighbors  far  and  near  whenever  a  stranger 
will  preach,  whatever  may  be  the  day  of  the  week  or 
the  hour  of  the  day. 

I  have  frequently  arrived  at  a  solitary  log-cabin,  late 
in  the  afternoon,  after  a  wearisome  day's  ride  through  a 
rough,  wild,  mountainous  region,  and  almost  as  soon  as 
I  had  made  myself  known  as  a  preacher,  they  would 
say: 

"  Can't  you  preach  for  us  here  to-night  ? " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  I  have  replied ;  "  but  I  have  seen  very 
few  cabins  for  a  long  way  back,  and  I  can't  understand 
where  the  congregation  is  to  come  from." 

"  We  know  that,"  they  have  rejoined  ;  "  but  there's 
a  heap  of  people  scattered  over  these  hills,  and  if  you 
will  agree  to  preach  for  us  to-night,  you  will  be  sure  to 
have  a  houseful." 

As  soon  as  my  assent  was  given,  father,  sons,  and 


STRANGE  EXPERIENCES   WITH  A    CANDIDATE.  159 

daughters  have  started  off  in  different  directions  to  no- 
tify the  nearest  neighbors,  who  immediately  abandoned 
their  work  to  inform  other  and  more  distant  neighbors. 
In  this  manner  all  the  families  over  a  wide  extent  of 
country  would  be  notified  in  a  short  time.  Nearly  all 
would  abandon  their  work,  and  with  it  all  thought  of 
supper  until  they  should  return,  and,  taking  their  chil- 
dren with  them,  would  start  at  once  for  the  place  ap- 
pointed for  the  preaching.  In  such  cases  I  have  never 
failed  to  have  the  promised  houseful.  Indeed,  I  have 
traveled  on  horseback  over  wide  regions  of  country, 
where,  had  I  sufficient  health  and  strength,  I  could  have 
preached  every  night  to  a  new  congregation  assembled 
as  thus  described. 

I  returned  to  B ,  and  reached  the   court-house 

at  the  appointed  hour.     The  announcement   that  they 

would  be   addressed   by   a  preacher   from   L ,   the 

largest  city  in  the  State,  had  drawn  together  an  unusu- 
ally large  audience.  Before  commencing  the  services,  I 
was  introduced  to  the  county  judge,  who  was  also  a  Bap- 
tist preacher.  He,  with  others,  had  been  informed  of  my 
coming,  and  kindly  came  to  the  county-seat,  and  gave  me 
the  sanction  and  aid  of  both  his  ministerial  and  judicial 
presence.  He  very  naturally  assumed  the  position  of 
master  of  ceremonies,  and  introduced  me  to  his  Chris- 
tian brethren  and  "  fellow-citizens,"  who  not  only  hon- 
ored him  as  their  spiritual  shepherd,  but  had  elevated 
him  by  their  suffrages  to  his  judicial  position.  lie  po- 


160  W  THE  BRUSH. 

litely  escorted  me  to  the  judge's  seat,  which  was  my 
pulpit,  and  sat  with  me  there  during  the  services.  This 
"  seat "  was  simply  a  high,  narrow  platform  at  the  end 
of  the  room,  extending  entirely  across  the  court-house, 
with  a  railing  in  front  of  it,  and  supplied  with  benches 
and  a  few  chairs. 

I  can  not  here  adopt  the  very  common  and  conven- 
ient expedient  of  writers,  and  say  that  the  dress  and 
general  appearance  of  my  congregation  can  be  more 
easily  imagined  than  described.  In  sober  truth,  kind 
reader,  granting  to  your  imagination  the  very  highest 
power,  I  am  constrained  to  believe  that  you  are  entirely 
unequal  to  this  task.  There  was  very  little  if  any 
foreign  texture  there.  Their  dresses,  coats,  and  other 
garments  had,  almost  without  exception,  been  spun  on 
their  own  wheels,  woven  in  their  own  looms,  dyed  in 
butternut  from  their  own  hills,  and  made  and  fashioned 
in  accordance  with  their  own  taste"  without  consulting 
any  fashion-plates.  As  they  were  bound  by  no  rules, 
there  was  variety,  and  there  were  very  marked  displays 
of  originality.  Best  of  all,  there  was  comfort,  and 
patriotic  instincts  were  gratified  by  the  exhibition  of 
domestic  fabrics.  It  was  a  rare  display  of  woolsey. 

In  addressing  such  an  audience  the  speaker  was 
always  gratified  and  rewarded  by  the  closest  attention. 
I  have  never  seen  such  listeners  as  the  people  in  the 
Brush.  They  gave  a  speaker  not  only  their  ears  but 
their  eyes,  and  their  whole  attention.  They  seemed 


STRANGE  EXPERIENCES   WITH  A    CANDIDATE.  161 

unwilling  to  lose  a  word  that  he  uttered ;  they  yielded 
themselves  to  his  power.  Their  faces  moved  and 
glowed  responsive  to  his  sentiments  ;  and  his  own  mind 
was  animated  and  enkindled  by  this  sympathy  of  his 
audience.  I  suppose  the  chief  reason  of  this  very 
marked  attention  was  the  fact  that  the  most  of  these 
people  read  very  little,  and  very  many  of  them  could 
not  read  at  all.  Hence  they  acquired  the  most  of  their 
information  on  all  subjects,  religious  and  secular,  by- 
being  good  listeners.  Preachers  and  politicians,  the 
pulpit  and  the  stump,  were  their  chief  sources  of  edu- 
cation. The  school  and  the  press  were  comparatively 
powerless.  Political,  theological,  and  all  other  contro- 
verted questions  were  settled  in  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple by  oral  discussions.  Henry  Clay  once  presided  over 
a  theological  discussion  between  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Campbell,  the  founder  of  the  sect  popularly  known  as 
"  Campbellites,"  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  N.  L.  Rice,  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  was  continued  through  sev- 
eral days,  and  attended  by  a  large  concourse  of  people. 
This  debate  was  but  a  type  of  hundreds,  probably  of 
thousands,  that  have  been  held  in  all  parts  of  the  South- 
west. Let  either  a  Calvinist  or  an  Arminian  challenge 
the  other  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  "  Perseverance 
of  the  Saints,"  or  "  Falling  from  Grace,"  and,  however 
remote  and  wild  the  region,  the  people  for  miles  around 
would  abandon  work  and  business,  and  attend  for  days 
upon  the  discussion.  Such  debates  on  the  question  of 


1G2  IF  THE  BRUSH. 

I'aptism  have  drawn  crowds  together  in  this  manner 
times  without  number.  Any  petty  lawsuit  would  bring 
together  the  most  of  the  people  in  the  neighborhood, 
to  hear  the  speeches  of  the  opposing  pettifoggers  or 
lawyers.  County  and  circuit-court  days  were  the  great 
days  of  the  year,  when  the  people  left  their  homes  en 
masse,  and  went  up  to  the  county-seat  in  neighborhood 
cavalcades,  and  hour  after  hour,  and  day  after  day,  lis- 
tened to  the  speeches  of  the  opposing  counsel.  In  cases 
of  unusual  interest  and  excitement,  such  as  a  murder 
trial,  I  have  known  a  very  general  turnout  of  the 
wives  and  daughters,  and  have  seen  them  sit  for  hours 
together  and  listen  to  such  speeches.  As  already  de- 
scribed in  a  previous  chapter,  political  discussions  on 
all  questions,  State  and  national,  were  still  more  univer- 
sal and  popular,  and  stump-speeches  delivered  to  these 
crowds  did  more  to  decide  the  minds  of  the  people  in 
regard  to  the  questions  discussed  than  newspapers  and 
all  other  causes  combined. 

This  fondness  of  the  people  for  public  discussion,  and 
speeches  upon  all  sorts  of  subjects,  and  the  remarkable 
attention  they  give  to  a  speaker,  have  done  very  much  to 
develop  the  peculiar  and  often  very  remarkable  oratory 
that  prevailed  in  these  wild  regions.  Their  speakers 
were  so  stimulated  by  the  attention  given  them,  and  by 
the  visible  effects  produced  by  their  words,  as  to  draw 
out  all  their  powers.  While  they  molded  the  minds  and 
opinions  of  the  people,  the  people  molded  their  peculiar 


STRANGE  EXPERIENCES   WITH  A    CANDIDATE.  163 

style  of  oratory.  They  acted  and  reacted  upon  each 
other. 

It  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  become  animated  and 
eloquent  in  addressing  an  inattentive,  listless,  stolid  audi- 
ence. I  remember  hearing  in  New  England  a  story  of 
the  olden  time,  when,  to  avoid  cooking  a  Sunday  dinner, 
a  pan  of  pork  and  beans  was  put  into  the  hot  brick  oven, 
after  taking  out  the  bread  and  pies  that  were  generally 
baked  on  Saturday  afternoons.  The  pork  -  and  beans 
were  baked  in  this  manner,  and  taken  from  the  oven  for 
the  Sunday  dinner.  An  old  divine,  remarkable  for  his 
eloquence  and  wit,  on  one  occasion  "  exchanged  "  with  a 
brother  clergyman  whose  parish  was  noted  for  the  pro- 
duction of  white  beans. 

"  How  did  you  like  preaching  for  my  people  ? "  said 
the  latter,  as  the  two  met  some  time  afterward. 

"  It  did  very  well  in  the  morning,"  said  the  witty 
divine ;  "  but  in  the  afternoon  it  was  exactly  like  preach- 
ing to  so  many  bags  of  baked  beans." 

It  is  not  at  all  strange  that  in  these  times  there  are  a 
good  many  dull  pulpits.  There  are  so  many  audiences 
that,  either  from  their  minds  being  absorbed  with  busi- 
ness or  other  thoughts,  or  from  sheer  mental  and  physi- 
cal stupidity,  are  as  irresponsive  and  as  little  stimulat- 
ing to  a  speaker  as  "so  many  bags  of  baked  beans." 

But  I  had  no  such  fault  to  find  with  my  audience  on 
this  occasion.  Had  there  been  any  inattention,  the  fault 
would  have  been  my  own.  The  fact  that  I  hailed  from 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 

the  great  city  to  which  they  sent  their  tobacco  and  other 
products — the  Jerusalem  of  their  affection  and  State 
pride — was  of  itself  sufficient  to  secure  me  a  most  re- 
spectful and  attentive  hearing.  I  had  proceeded  with 
the  services,  and  was  about  half  through  my  sermon, 
when  a  gentleman  entered  the  open  door  of  the  court- 
house, halted  for  a  time  upon  the  threshold,  and  gazed 
at  me  for  some  moments  with  that  excited  and  in- 
tense earnestness  with  which  a  stranger  is  "regarded  in 
those  regions,  where  the  presence  of  a  stranger  is  a  rare 
occurrence.  He  wore  a  black  broadcloth  suit,  and  his  ap- 
pearance and  bearing  indicated  a  professional  rather  than 
a  laboring  man  of  that  region.  The  sheriff's  seat  was 
close  to  the  door,  at  his  right  hand,  and  this  was  occupied 
by  my  friend,  the  venerable  schoolmaster  of  the  village, 
to  whom  I  have  before  alluded.  Turning  to  the  school- 
master, he  plied  him  with  questions  for  some  time,  wrhich 
he  evidently  answered  with  great  reluctance  as  he  kept 
his  eyes  constantly  upon  me,  giving  the  closest  attention 
to  my  sermon.  At  length  he  turned  his  head  from  him, 
as  far  as  possible,  and  refused  to  answer  his  questions. 
I  had  no  doubt,  from  appearances,  that  in  this  pursuit  of 
knowledge  under  difficulties  he  was  seeking  information 
in  regard  to  the  preacher  he  had  come  upon  so  un- 
expectedly. After  standing  in  the  door  and  listening 
to  me  for  some  time,  he  very  deliberately  folded  his 
arms,  dropped  his  head  in  an  apparently  meditative 
mood,  and  promenaded  back  and  forth  before  me  from 


8TRANOE  EXPERIENCES    WITH  A    CANDIDATE.  165 

one  side  of  the  court  house  to  the  other.  The  ladies 
and  a  part  of  the  men  were  within  the  bar.  The  rest  of 
the  audience  were  on  seats  outside  the  bar,  against  the 
walls,  and  in  the  windows,  so  that  there  was  ample  room 
for  this  promenade  over  the  brick  floor  in  the  space  be- 
tween the  bar  and  the  seats  against  the  wall.  I  had  had 
too  wide  and  varied  an  experience  in  addressing  au- 
diences to  be  seriously  disturbed  by  this  somewhat  un- 
usual proceeding,  and,  as  the  audience  gave  me  the  strict- 
est possible  attention,  I  continued  my  sermon,  and  my 
abstracted  friend  continued  his  promenade  and  his  medi- 
tations. At  length,  tossing  up  his  head  suddenly,  he 
whirled  about,  and,  moving  with  a  rapid  step,  marched 
across  the  room,  passed  within  the  bar,  ascended  to  the 
Judge's  seat,  and  sat  down  on  a  bench  at  my  left  hand. 
After  sitting  here  a  while,  he  lay  down  and  stretched  him- 
self at  full  length  upon  the  bench.  Finally  he  sprang 
to  his  feet  suddenly,  and,  evidently  supposing  that  I  was 
concluding  my  sermon,  stepped  in  front  of  me,  elbowed 
me  back  as  gracefully  as  such  a  thing  could  well  be  done 
in  such  circumstances,  and,  bowing  profoundly  to  the 
audience,  he  said : 

"  There  is  a  fine  crowd  here,  and  I  believe  I  will 
make  a  speech." 

This  was  too  much  for  the  patience  of  my  audience, 
and  was  greeted  by  a  general  and  indignant  shout  of 
"  Sit  down  !  Sit  down  !  Sit  down  !  "  from  nearly  every 

one  present,  several  of  the  brethren  rising  to  their  feet, 
8 


1(56  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

prepared  to  enforce  order  by  physical  force  if  necessary. 
My  clerical  friend  the  Judge,  who  was  sitting  on  my 
right,  arose  with  them,  and,  in  the  name  of  law  and 
order,  commanded  him  to  take  his  seat,  reminding  him 
of  the  severe  legal  penalty  for  disturbing  religious  wor- 
ship. Meanwhile  I  stood  a  silent  and  passive  spectator 
of  the  scene. 

During  my  sermon  I  had  been  struck  with  the  very 
marked  attention  of  a  rather  short,  compactly  built  man, 
with  very  keen,  black  eyes,  who  seemed  all  unconscious 
of  his  very  singular  attitude.  He  was  in  the  window,  at 
my  left,  nearest  the  Judge's  seat,  and  had  sat  through 
the  sermon,  squatted  upon  his  heels,  leaning  his  back 
against  the  window-jam,  looking  directly  into  my  face, 
and  listening  to  every  word  that  I  uttered  with  the  most 
gratified  and  animated  interest.  He  was  among  the  first 
to  spring  to  his  feet,  and  stood  in  the  window,  his  black 
eyes  flashing  fire,  and  evidently  more  than  willing  to  sup- 
plement the  Judge's  words  by  any  acts  that  might  be 
necessary  to  restore  order. 

Order  was,  however,  restored  without  force.  My 
friend  with  a  speech  to  make  reluctantly  resumed  his 
seat.  I  resumed  and  concluded  my  sermon,  and  was,  in 
the  vernacular  of  the  people,  about  to  "  lift  a  collection  " 
for  the  Bible  Society.  At  this  point  my  oratorical  friend 
sprang  in  front  of  me,  and  exclaimed,  with  great  vehe- 
mence : 

"  There  is  a  fine  crowd  here,  and  I  am  going  to  make 


A  candidate's  unsuccessful  effort  to  make  a  speech. 


STRANGE  EXPERIENCES   WITH  A    CANDIDATE.  167 

a  speech.  I  won't  be  put  down  by  Judge  Locke,  this 
man  from  L ,  or  anybody  else." 

This  was  the  signal  for  the  wildest  possible  excite- 
ment. Every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  audience 
sprang  to  their  feet,  all  shouting  at  the  top  of  their 
voices, 

"  Sit  down  !     Sit  down !     Sit  down ! " 

One  immensely  tall  and  large  woman  at  my  right, 
head  and  shoulders  above  the  group  of  sisters  by  whom 
she  was  surrounded,  with  an  indescribable  bonnet  of  the 
largest  old-time  pattern  and  a  dress  of  home-made  wool- 
sey,  in  the  excess  of  her  excitement  and  rage,  jumped  up 
and  down,  whirling  completely  around  and  jerking  her 
head  like  a  snapping-turtle,  and  shouted  at  the  top  of 
her  voice,  which  rang  sharp  and  shrill  above  the  gen- 
eral roar, 

«  Kill  him  !    Kill  him !    Kill  him  ! " 

My  friend  with  the  fiery  black  eyes  leaped  at  a  single 
bound  from  his  perch  on  the  window-sill  to  the  Judge's 
seat,  and  seizing  the  intruder  by  the  collar,  jerked  him 
in  an  instant  to  the  floor  below,  where  he  was  reenforced 
by  other  zealous  brethren,  among  them  my  host,  who 
was  sitting  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  room,  and  together 
they  "  snaked "  him  out  of  the  house  in  much  quicker 
time  than  I  had  ever  seen  such  a  feat  performed  before. 
The  quickness  of  the  whole  transaction  was  wonderful. 
A  part  of  them  took  him  to  the  jail,  which  was  but  a 
few  yards  distant,  where  he  was  locked  up.  Order  being 


168  AV  THE  BRUSH. 

again  restored,  the  hats  were  passed,  and  I  received  a  col- 
lection amounting  to  about  five  dollars. 

As  soon  as  I  pronounced  the  benediction,  the  people 
crowded  around  me  and  expressed  their  intense  mortifi- 
cation and  sorrow  at  these  occurrences. 

"  "We've  got  a  pretty  bad  name  here  anyway,"  said 
one,  "  and  if  any  such  thing  happens,  it  is  always  sure  to 
be  when  there  is  a  stranger  here  from  a  long  way  off." 

"  I  don't  want  to  fight,"  said  my  friend  with  the  fiery 
black  eyes,  "  any  more." 

The  reverend  Judge  and  the  brethren  and  sisters,  one 
after  another,  gave  expression  to  their  deep  humiliation, 
and  my  fiery  friend  kept  stepping  about  nervously,  and 
repeating  over  and  over,  half  to  himself  and  half  to  me : 

"  I  don't  want  to  fight  any  more." 

At  length,  shutting  his  fist,  and  bringing  it  down  em- 
phatically, he  said : 

"  I  don't  want  to  fight  any  more.  But  I  won't  see  re- 
ligion abused  anyway.  I  will  fight  for  my  Master." 

Looking  at  his  closely  knit,  compact  form,  his  quick, 
vigorous  movements,  and  his  flashing  eyes,  I  could  read 
in  his  "  any  more  "  the  story  of  many  a  fierce  fight  before 
his  conversion — which  I  could  not  now  doubt  was  genuine. 

At  length  I  inquired  who  the  gentleman  was  that 
had  made  the  disturbance,  and  had  been  so  suddenly 
locked  up  in  jail.  I  confess  I  was  somewhat  surprised 
to  be  informed  that  he  was  a  lawyer  and  candidate  for 
prosecuting  attorney  for  the  county.  This  was  the  first 


STRANGE  EXPERIENCES   WITH  A   CANDIDATE.  1G9 

Sunday  in  August.  The  election  was  to  come  off  on  the 
following  Monday.  He  had  been  making  speeches  in 
different  parts  of  the  county  every  day  for  two  or  three 
weeks  before.  It  was  very  evident  that  he  was  not  a 
teetotaler,  though,  as  I  afterward  learned  from  himself, 
he  entertained  a  very  high  regard  for  temperance  as  a 
theme  for  oratorical  display. 

I  learned  that  before  sundown  his  opponent  in  the 
canvass  magnanimously  interposed  in  his  behalf  and 
bailed  him  out  of  jail,  being  chivalrously  unwilling  to 
profit  by  his  enforced  absence  from  the  polls  from  such 
a  cause  on  the  ensuing  election-day. 

After  breakfast  the  next  morning,  I  concluded  to 
walk  over  to  the  court-house  and  see  how  the  election 
progressed.  As  soon  as  I  entered  the  yard,  a  "sover- 
eign "  whom  I  had  not  seen  before  approached  me, 
with  a  large  water-bucket  in  one  hand  and  a  quantity  of 
quarters,  dimes,  and  other  change  in  the  other,  which  he 
shook  before  me,  and  said  : 

""We  are  agoing  to  have  a  general  treat,  stranger; 
would  you  like  to  throw  in  ? " 

I  declined  as  politely  as  possible,  and  he  passed  on  to 
the  tavern  to  expend  the  proceeds  of  his  collection  for  a 
pail  of  whisky.  "  A  general  treat "  is  where  the  whis- 
ky is  purchased  by  a  "  general  collection  "  taken  in  this 
way,  and  put  into  a  water-bucket  or  larger  vessel,  and  all 
parties  come  forward  and  help  themselves  with  a  gourd 
dipper.  A  general  treat  so  early  in  the  morning  gave 


170  "  !•&  THE  BRUSH. 

promise  of  a  lively  day.  As  I  entered  the  court-house 
door,  my  friend  the  candidate  recognized  me,  and  ad- 
vancing with  the  most  consequential  air,  and  bowing 
with  a  great  deal  of  assumed  dignity,  he  said : 

"  I  believe,  sir,  you  are  the  gentleman  from  L 

that  preached  here  yesterday  ? " 

I  replied,  "  Yes,  sir." 

"  Well,  sir,"  said  he,  "  I  wish  to  apologize  to  you.  I 
very  much  regret  what  occurred.  I  came  into  the  court- 
house, and  saw  that  there  was  a  very  fine  crowd,  and 
I  concluded  that  I  would  deliver  them  a  temperance 
speech.  I  have  a  very  fine  one  that  I  have  delivered  in 
Cincinnati,  Louisville,  and  St.  Louis,  that  I  was  agoing  to 
give  them,  but  they  hauled  me  out  like  a  dog.  I  am  a 
candidate  for  commonwealth  attorney,  sir,  and  I  suppose 
the  affair  will  injure  me  somewhat  in  this  precinct ;  but  I 
think,  stranger,  that  I  shall  make  the  race." 

Passing  through  another  part  of  the  county  some 
days  afterward,  I  learned  that,  sure  enough,  he  did 
"  make  the  race,"  being  elected  by  a  large  majority. 

.  It  is  but  simple  justice  for  me  to  add  that,  in  all  my 
extended  travels  in  the  Southwest,  this  is  the  only  in- 
stance where  I  have  had  the  slightest  interruption  in  the 
discharge  of  my  professional  duties.  I  have  uniformly 
had  that  kind,  cordial,  and  hospitable  reception  for 
which  the  people  are  so  justly  famed.  All  my  readers 
will  understand  that  whisky  was  the  sole  cause  of  this 
exceptional  case. 


CHAPTER  XL 

EXPERIENCES     WITH     OLD-TIME     METHODIST     CIRCUIT-EIDERS 
IN   THE   SOUTHWEST. 

IN  my  extended  horseback  travels  in  the  Southwest,  I 
made  the  acquaintance  of  a  great  many  itinerant  preach- 
ers, and  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  with  them  in  riding 
around  their  circuits.  I  found  them,  as  a  rule,  a  genial, 
laborious,  and  self-denying  class  of  men.  In  general, 
they  had  hard  work,  rough  fare,  and,  so  far  as  this  world 
is  concerned,  very  small  pay.  But  they  understood  all 
this  when  they  entered  upon  this  itinerant  life.  They 
did  not  toil  for  earthly  reward.  They  labored  for  the 
salvation  of  men  and  the  glory  of  God.  Their  richest 
present  compensation  was  the  peace  and  joy  that  ever 
pervade  the  souls  of  those  who,  in  simplicity  and  godly 
sincerity,  yield  themselves  to  the  toils  and  privations  of 
this  high  and  glorious  calling.  In  this  the  richest  pleas- 
ures and  the  sweetest  joys  attend  those  whose  self-denials 
are  the  greatest  and  whose  toils  are  the  most  severe. 

Almost  without  exception,  I  found  my  ministerial 
brethren  in  the  Brush  men  with  perfect  health.  This  I 


172  IN  THE 

attributed  very  largely  to  their  out-of-door  life,  their 
horseback-riding,  and  the  fact  that  they  communed  far 
more  with  men  and  nature  than  with  books.  More  than 
this,  I  found  them  cheerful  men.  They  loved  and  en- 
joyed their  labors.  They  enjoyed  their  long  rides  to 
preach  to  a  dozen  or  more  at  an  out-of-the-way  appoint- 
ment— enjoyed  preaching,  praying,  singing,  shouting- 
enjoyed  laboring  with  "  mourners  in  the  altar  "  until  late 
in  the  night,  and  they  could  scarcely  speak  for  hoarse- 
ness— enjoyed  seeing  them  "come  through"  (the  ver- 
nacular for  conversion),  hearing  them  shout,  and  re- 
ceiving them  into  the  church — enjoyed  class-meetings, 
quarterly-meetings,  camp-meetings,  love-feasts,  and  con- 
ference— enjoyed  the  familiar  and  affectionate  greetings 
of  parents  and  children,  the  cordial  welcome,  and  the 
free  and  unrestrained  social  intercourse  that  awaited  them 
in  their  pastoral  visitations  in  the  Brush — enjoyed  with 
the  relish  that  comes  from  real  health  and  hunger  the 
"good  things"  the  sisters  provided  for  them,  especially 
fried  chicken.  I  have  heard  it  said  a  great  many 
times  that  many  of  the  dogs  in  the  Brush  knew  a 
preacher  as  soon  as  he  rode  up  to  a  house,  -and,  antici- 
pating the  call  that  was  sure  to  be  made  upon  them, 
would  start  out  unbidden  and  run  down  the  chickens 
for  the  coming  meal,  and  bring  them  to  the  house.  I 
can  not  vouch  for  this  remarkable  canine  sagacity  of 
my  own  knowledge,  but  I  can  say  that,  when  riding 
the  circuit  with  these  brethren,  I  have  oftjen  seen  the 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS.      173 

clogs  start  after  the  chickens  upon  a  very  slight  inti- 
mation, and  run  them  down  for  our  supper  as  soon  as 
we  rode  up,  and  received  from  the  sister,  all  aglow  with 
joy  at  our  coming,  the  cordial  invitation  to  '"light" 
(alight).  I  speak  of  all  the  enjoyments  I  have  thus 
enumerated  from  personal  knowledge,  for  I  have 
been  with  many  of  these  good  brethren  in  all  these 
scenes. 

But  other  and  strange  scenes  were  almost  constantly 
occurring  in  the  prosecution  of  these  labors.  On  one 
occasion  I  started  out  with  a  young  preacher  to  visit 
several  of  his  week-day  appointments.  His  circuit  was 
known  in  the  conference  as  "  Brush  College."  It  was 
so  called  because  young  preachers,  without  wife  or  fam- 
ily, were  invariably  sent  there.  They  were  sent  there 
if  they  had  a  great  deal  of  zeal,  and  there  was  any  doubt 
as  to  its  permanency ;  for  the  trials  and  discouragements 
they  would  there  meet  would  thoroughly  test  their  sin- 
cerity and  their  perseverance.  They  were  sent  there  if 
they  were  thought  to  be  lacking  in  humility,  or,  in  the 
language  of  the  Brush,  if  they  had  the  big-head  /  for 
roughing  it  there  would  be  certain  to  relieve  them  of 
any  inflated  notions  of  self.  They  were  sent  there  not 
unfrequently  because,  in  their  entire  devotion  to  God  and 
his  service,  they  were  more  than  willing  to  go  anywhere 
and  suffer  anything  if  they  might  lead  men  to  that 
Saviour  whoso  love  glowed  in  their  souls  a  pure  and 
ceaseless  flame.  Such  was  the  devout  character  and  spirit 


IN  THE  BRUSII. 

of  the  young  circuit-rider  whom  I  accompanied  on  his 
week-day  visit  to  Eocky  Creek. 

It  was  an  intensely  hot  day  in  July.  As  we  neared 
the  place  of  meeting,  we  passed  two  or  three  old 
women  on  foot,  accompanied  by  a  boy  about  a  dozen 
years  old,  who  was  carrying  a  brand  of  fire  and  swing- 
ing it  to  keep  it  alive.  As  the  weather  was  so  uncom- 
fortably warm,  it  was  entirely  beyond  my  ability  to 
comprehend  what  use  they  could  make  of  fire,  and,  turn- 
ing to  the  preacher,  I  said, 

"  What  can  be  their  object  in  carrying  that  fire  with 
them  to  the  meeting  this  hot  day?" 

He  smiled  as  he  saw  my  puzzled  look,  and  simply 
answered, 

"You  will  soon  see." 

We  rode  on  to  a  rough  log  school-  and  meeting-house, 
standing  upon  the  bank  of  a  rocky  creek  or  "  branch,"  as 
it  was  called,  entirely  surrounded  by  large  and  small  for- 
est trees,  under  the  grateful  shade  of  which  we  hitched 
our  horses.  This  was  done  here,  as  elsewhere  in  the 
whole  region,  by  riding  under  a  tree,  pulling  down  a 
limb,  and  making  fast  to  the  end  of  it  by  a  simple  loop 
made  with  the  end  of  the  bridle-reins.  This  is  an  admi- 
rable method  of  hitching  a  horse.  The  long,  easily  bend- 
ing limb  offers  no  resistance  to  the  movements  of  the 
horse  in  fighting  flies,  and  there  is  no  liability  of  getting 
the  reins  or  halter  under  his  feet.  It  has  often  been  a 
pleasant  sight  to  me  to  see  scores  or  hundreds  of  horses 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS.      175 

hitched  in  this  manner,  and  standing  comfortably  in 
the  shade  of  forest  trees,  surrounding  a  church,  preach- 
ing-stand, or  camp-ground.  As  we  returned  from  this 
care  of  our  horses,  the  mystery  in  regard  to  the  fire 
.was  all  explained.  It  had  been  placed  in  a  large 
stump,  which  was  burning  freely,  near  the  log  church. 
As  soon  as  the  people  arrived,  and  had  hitched  their 
horses,  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  made  their 
way  to  this  stump,  lighted  their  pipes,  filled  with 
home-raised  and  home-cured  tobacco,  which  they  carried 
loose  in  the  ample  pockets  of  their  coats  and  dresses, 
and  sat  down  on  the  ground  to  enjoy  a  social,  neigh- 
borly smoke  and  chat  before  going  into  the  house  to 
hear  the  sermon.  When  the  congregation  %had  arrived, 
by  paths  radiating  through  the  forest  from  all  points 
of  the  compass,  some  of  the  official  brethren  who  had 
accompanied  the  preachers  into  the  house  struck  up  a 
familiar  hymn.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  general  lay- 
ing aside  of  pipes  and  gathering  in  to  the  service. 
"We  had  been  joined  at  the  church  by  a  "  local  preach- 
er" who  had  formerly  served  in  the  ranks  of  the  itine- 
rancy, but  had  "  located "  in  this  neighborhood,  and, 
after  years  of  almost  gratuitous  service  in  the  ministry, 
was  now  supporting  himself  and  family  by  carrying 
on  a  small  tannery  and  store.  This  old  itinerant 
preached  the  morning  sermon.  He  was  a  man  of 
strong  muscular  frame,  heavy  voice,  and  great  experi- 
ence and  power  in  moving  upon  the  feelings  of  his 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 

hearers.  In  the  midst  of  his  sermon  a  woman  sitting 
near  me  sprang  to  her  feet,  threw  her  arms  in  the  air, 
and  shouted,  "Glory!  Hallelujah!"  and  jumped  up 
and  down,  clapping  her  hands  and  shouting  until  she 
sank  exhausted  upon  the  floor.  Soon  another  and  then, 
another,  until  a  large  part  of  the  audience  were  shout- 
ing in  this  manner.  The  preacher's  face  fairly  glowed 
with  joy,  and  his  voice  arose  louder  and  louder  as  the 
people  were  more  and  more  moved ;  and  there  was  a 
general  blending  of  songs,  prayers,  and  vociferous  shouts. 
At  length,  with  singing,  prayer,  and  a  general  shaking 
of  hands,  they  closed  what  was  to  them  a  very  delight- 
ful meeting. 

In  the  afternoon,  as  the  day  was  very  hot,  it  was  de- 
cided to  hold  the  services  out  of  doors,  under  the  shade 
of  the  large  oak-trees  that  stood  immediately  in  front  of 
the  cabin.  The  benches  were  brought  out,  and  occupied 
mostly  by  the  women,  and  the  rest  of  the  congregation 
sat  on  the  ground.  I  took  my  position  at  the  foot  of  a 
large  oak-tree,  near  the  bank  of  the  murmuring  stream, 
and  preached  to  the  people  grouped  and  seated  before 
me  under  the  shadow  of  this  and  other  oaks.  All  gave 
the  most  respectful  attention.  During  my  sermon  I 
noticed  a  woman  who  was  sitting  but  a  few  feet  distant, 
and  immediately  in  front  of  me,  hunch  with  her  elbow 
the  one  sitting  next  to  her.  She  immediately  hunched 
in  the  same  manner  the  next,  and  she  the  next,  until  the, 
to  me,  unknown  signal  had  been  communicated  in  this 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS.      177 

manner  to  the  half-dozen  or  more  who  occupied  the 
bench.  During  this  time  every  eye  was  fixed  on  me 
and  not  a  muscle  of  any  face  moved.  In  a  few  moments 
the  hunch  was  repeated,  and  they  all  arose  from  the 
bench  with  almost  military  precision,  filed  out  before  me 
as  quietly  as  possible,  moved  around  to  the  large  burning 
stump  on  my  right,  filled  and  lighted  their  pipes,  took 
seats  on  the  ground  near  by,  and  all  commenced  smok- 
ing. During  all  this  movement,  from  the  first  hunch, 
they  each  kept  an  ear  inclined  toward  me,  intent  on 
listening  to  my  sermon,  and  not  one  of  them  apparently 
lost  a  wrord.  They  smoked  on  and  I  preached  on  to  the 
end  of  my  sermon  ;  and,  as  usual,  "  lifted  a  collection  " 
for  the  Bible  Society,  which,  in  this  instance,  amounted 
to  about  seven  dollars.  The  benediction  was  then  pro- 
nounced, and,  in  their  vernacular,  the  "  meeting  broke." 
We  spent  the  night  very  comfortably  with  a  kind  family 
living  near  the  place  of  preaching,  and  returned  to  con- 
tinue the  services  the  next  day. 

In  the  morning  I  listened  to  a  sermon  from  a  genu- 
ine backwoodsman,  the  young  man  I  have  spoken  of 
in  the  chapter  entitled  "  The  Old,  Old  Book  and  its 
Story  in  the  Wilds  of  the  Southwest,"  as  the  guide 
who  piloted  the  venerable  Bible  -  distributor  through 
that  rough,  wild  region.  He  had  since  been  licensed, 
first  as  an  exhorter,  and  then  as  a  local  preacher.  It 
would  hardly  be  possible  to  find  a  young  preacher 
whose  education  had  been  more  completely  that  of  the 


178  W  THE 

Brush.  His  home  was  in  the  wild  region  I  have  de- 
scribed in  that  chapter,  and  his  companions  had  been 
as  illiterate  and  uncultivated  as  could  well  be  found. 
He  had  attended  school  but  a  very  few  months,  and 
that  was  vastly  poorer  than  the  most  of  my  readers 
have  ever  conceived  of  as  possible.  He  had  then  taught, 
for  a  few  months,  this  school  in  his  own  neighborhood, 
in  which  he  had  received  his  only  education.  His 
reading  was  tolerable,  his  writing  passable,  his  spelling 
horrible.  Several  weeks  afterward  I  received  a  letter 
from  him,  in  which  he  expressed  the  hope  that  certain 
facts  I  had  asked  him  to  send  me  would  have  due  weight 
— which  he  spelled  "  dew  wate."  He  was  about  twenty 
years  old,  full  six  feet  in  height,  with  very  full,  broad 
chest,  square  shoulders,  and  he  stood  as  erect  and  straight 
as  any  Indian.  He  had  a  full  head  of  very  handsome 
black  hair,  bright  black  eyes,  a  very  mild,  pleasant  expres- 
sion of  countenance,  and  a  voice  that  rang  loud,  smooth, 
and  clear  like  a  trumpet.  I  listened  to  his  sermon  with 
unbounded  amazement,  and,  I  may  add,  delight.  It  was 
a  mystery  to  me  how  one  so  unlettered  and  so  unlearned 
in  all  religious  reading  except  the  Bible — and,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  but  poorly  versed  in  that — could  have 
acquired  thoughts  so  sensible  and  good.  It  was  a  greater 
mystery  how  he  could  clothe  them  in  such  appropriate 
language.  Both  his  thoughts  and  his  words  flowed  as 
freely  as  the  stream  near  by,  and  they  had  great  power 
to  arrest  the  attention  and  move  the  hearts  of  his  hearers. 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS.      179 

It  was  the  power  of  undoubted  sincerity  and  burning 
zeal ;  it  was  the  power  of  one  with  superior  natural  en- 
dowments stirred  to  their  profoundest  depths,  and,  be- 
yond all  question,  taught  of  God.  It  was  the  power  of 
one  whose  life,  whose  education,  and  whose  modes  of 
thought  were  in  full  sympathy  with  his  hearers,  who 
had  been  born  in  the  same  wild  region  and  reared  with 
the  same  educational  surroundings  as  himself.  He  was 
adapted  to  preach  to  those  people,  as  the  learned  pastors 
of  intelligent  congregations  are  adapted  to  theirs;  and 
each,  with  his  human  sympathies,  was  better  adapted  to 
preach  to  those  of  like  human  character  and  infirmities 
than  any  angel  in  heaven.  If  it  be  heresy,  I  am  so  he- 
retical as  to  believe  that  God  has  other  methods  of  train- 
ing some  men— yea,  many  men — to  be  useful  ministers 
of  the  Gospel  than  by  filling  their  heads  with  Latin, 
Hebrew,  and  Greek.  So  he  had  trained  this  man  for  the 
remarkable  work  he  had  for  him  to  do.  Several  weeks 
after  this  I  met  him  at  conference,  where  he  was  re- 
ceived into  the  "  traveling  connection,"  to  enter  upon  his 
four  years  of  practical  training  and  study  for  the  "  full 
work  of  a  Gospel  minister."  A  few  months  later,  in  the 
prosecution  of  my  labors,  I  reached  the  circuit  to  which 
he  had  been  sent  with  an  older  colleague,  when  I  was 
told  by  a  gentleman  of  the  legal  profession  that  he  had 
often  heard  him  preach,  and  always  with  the  greatest  in- 
terest. This  gentleman  informed  me  that,  while  making 
the  round  of  his  extended  circuit,  his  horse  had  suddenly 


180 


THE  BRUSH. 


died.  He  pushed  on  on  foot  to  fulfill  his  appointments, 
and,  on  his  return,  the  people  had  been  so  gratified  with 
his  Christian  zeal  and  energy  that  they  had  raised  money 
and  purchased  a  horse,  which  they  presented  to  him.  At 
the  close  of  the  year  his  report  of  the  numbers  converted 
and  received  into  the  church  under  his  labors  brought 
out  an  emphatic  and  hearty  Amen  from  the  conference. 
The  next  year  he  was  sent  alone  to  a  rough  mountain 
circuit,  where  his  labors  were  crowned  with  still  greater 
success.  As  long  as  I  was  able  to  trace  him,  his  career 
was  luminous  with  good  accomplished. 

But  I  must  return  to  our  services  at  Rocky  Creek. 
At  the  conclusion  of  his  sermon  several  persons  were 
baptized  by  the  old  itinerant,  who  had  preached  on 
Baptism  the  day  before.  Moving  a  few  steps  from  the 
oak  where  I  had  preached,  they  knelt  on  the  edge  of  the 
stream,  and  he  stood  in  the  water  and  baptized  them, 
either  by  sprinkling  or  pouring,  as  they  preferred.  The 
entire  congregation  then  knelt  with  him  under  the 
shade  of  the  branching  oaks,  and  he  made  a  prayer  so 
earnest  and  impassioned  that  it  moved  the  people  to 
the  most  intense  excitement  and  joy.  The  forest  rang 
with  their  shouting.  At  the  conclusion  of  this  prayer 
the  benediction  was  pronounced,  and  the  meeting 
u  broke."  In  all  this  region  meetings  were  never  said 
to  be  "  out  "  or  to  "  close."  They  were  said  to  "  break," 
or,  more  frequently,  "  the  meeting  is  done  broke."  As 
we  mounted  our  horses  I  rode  with  the  sister  whose 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS.      181 

hospitality  we  were  to  enjoy.  She  was  a  woman  about 
thirty  years  of  age,  large,  and  very  fine  -  looking.  I 
had  noticed  her  when  shouting,  and  been  particularly 
struck  with  the  rapt  expression  of  her  face.  She  had 
a  very  pretty  daughter  some  fifteen  years  old.  Neither 
mother  nor  daughter  could  read  a  word.  As  we  rode 
on  she  was  still  much  excited  writh  the  closing  exer- 
cises, and  speaking  of  the  prayer,  she  said : 

"  I  thought  Brother  M—  -  would  pray  the  limbs 
off  the  trees." 

When  we  reached  her  home,  which  was  an  old  log- 
house,  she  prepared  our  dinner  with  the  greatest  ap- 
parent delight.  Her  house  was  one  of  the  circuit  homes 
of  the  young  preacher,  where  he  left  a  part  of  his 
clothing.  As  we  were  about  to  leave  to  attend  a  quar- 
terly-meeting at  the  court-house,  she  called  him  back, 
and,  in  a  very  frank  and  motherly  way,  directed  him 
to  make  some  changes  in  his  dress,  saying : 

"  I  don't  want  my  preacher  to  leave  my  house  look- 
ing or'nery." 

Afterward  I  heard  of  "  or'nery  "  people,  "  or'nery  " 
preachers,  doctors,  and  lawyers,  "  or'nery  "  animals,  and 
"or'nery"  almost  everything  else,  and  concluded  the 
word  was  a  corruption  of  "ordinary,"  though  it  was 
more  intensely  expressive  as  it  was  usually  applied. 

I  have  been  asked  by  those  who  were  aware  of  my 
wide  acquaintance  with  all  classes  of  people  in  the 
Southwest,  if  the  character  of  Nancy  Kirtley,  in  Rev. 


182  IN  TEE  BRUSH. 

Dr.  Edward  Eggleston's  "  Koxy,"  was  not  overdrawn— 
if  it  could  possibly  be  true  to  nature.  I  have  answered, 
without  hesitation,  "It  is  absolutely  true  to  life."  The 
Methodist  sister  I  have  described  above  was  not  a  Nancy 
Kirtley  in  moral  character,  but  she  was  in  personal 
beauty.  In  her  form  and  features,  in  the  glow  of 
her  face,  and  in  the  marvelous  beauty  of  her  eyes, 
she  was  a  remarkable  specimen  of  physical  perfection. 
So  was  her  young  daughter,  and  I  have  seen  scores  of 
others  like  them  in  the  wilds  of  the  Southwest.  I  was 
greatly  interested  in  a  distinction  drawn  by  General 
Grant,  when  asked  if  a  certain  man  to  whom  he  had 
given  an  office  was  not  a  very  ignorant  man.  "  He  is 
an  illiterate  man,"  said  the  General,  "  but  I  should  not 
call  him  an  ignorant  man."  That  was  a  "  distinction  " 
worthy  of  General  Grant.  I  have  met  a  great  many 
highly  educated  literary  men  who  knew  almost  nothing 
of  men  and  of  the  great  world  outside  of  books.  And 
I  have  known  a  great  many  illiterate  men  and  women, 
with  marvelous  knowledge  of  the  world,  with  wonder- 
ful shrewdness  and  keenness,  and  with  an  ability  to 
compass  the  end  sought  surpassed  by  very  few  that  I 
have  ever  known.  The  fact  that  they  could  not  read 
or  write  required  on  their  part  unusual  tact  and  skill 
not  to  be  overreached,  and  to  make  their  way  in  the 
world.  I  have  known  several  such  men  who  have 
acquired  large  fortunes.  Dr.  Eggleston's  Nancy  Kirt- 
ley is  not  a  mythical  character. 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS.      183 

After  the  young  preacher  had  made  satisfactory 
changes  in  his  dress,  we  all  bade  good-by  to  our  hos- 
pitable friends,  and  rode  several  miles  to  the  county- 
seat  where  the  quarterly-meeting  was  to  commence  that 
night.  Here  the  young  circuit-rider  preached  the  open- 
ing sermon,  and  the  meeting  continued  through  the  fol- 
lowing Saturday  and  Sunday.  There  was  nothing  to  me 
unusual  and  noteworthy  in  the  meetings,  except  in  the 
love-feast  on  Sabbath  morning.  The  first  to  speak  was 
my  host,  a  warm-hearted,  earnest  man,  a  Cumberland 
Presbyterian,  who  spoke  of  the  goodness  of  God  to  him 
and  of  his  love  to  all  the  followers  of  Christ,  and  then 
started  out  and  shook  hands  with  nearly  every  one  in  the 
house,  continuing  his  fervent  remarks  and  ejaculations 
during  all  the  hand-shaking.  Next,  a  sister  spoke  and 
started  in  the  same  manner,  shaking  hands  with  the 
brethren,  and  throwing  her  arms  around  the  sisters  and 
embracing  them  in  the  warmest  manner.  Nearly  all 
who  followed  them  went  through  these  same  demon- 
strations. They  not  only  sang, 

"  Now  here's  my  heart,  and  here's  my  hand, 
To  meet  you  in  that  heavenly  land," 

but  they  gave  the  cordial  and  often  long-continued  grasp. 
As  the  experiences,  prayers,  songs,  and  shouting  be- 
came more  and  more  animated  and  exciting,  the  hand- 
shaking became  more  general,  until  nearly  the  entire 
congregation,  in  larger  or  smaller  groups  or  numbers, 


184  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

were  shaking  each  other  by  the  hand,  keeping  time  in 
their  movements  to  the  wild  "Western  melody  they  were 
singing.  Hand-shaking  among  brethren  and  embracing 
among  sisters  formed  a  very  prominent  part  in  the 
religious  services  of  these  people  in  the  Brush.  This 
was  especially  cordial  and  earnest  when  one  was  con- 
verted, or,  in  their  language,  "came  through,"  after 
long  mourning  and  praying  at  the  altar.  Then  parents, 
brothers,  sisters,  and  warm  Christian  friends  came  for- 
ward and  shook  hands  with  them,  or  embraced  them, 
amid  a  general  chorus  of  songs  and  shouts  from  re- 
joicing friends. 

As  I  had  now  visited  nearly  every  part  of  the 
county  (including  several  places  to  which  I  have  made 
no  allusion),  I  called  a  general  meeting  at  the  court- 
house on  Sunday  p.  M.,  and  organized  a  county  Bible 
Society.  Subsequently,  I  ordered  a  large  supply  of 
books,  and  the  entire  county  was  most  thoroughly  can- 
vassed and  supplied  with  Bibles.  The  results  of  this 
work  were  of  surpassing  interest,  and  I  shall  give  some 
of  them  in  a  later  chapter. 

In  my  long  tours  with  circuit-riders  I  was  often 
greatly  interested  in  the  accounts  they  gave  me  of  their 
experiences  upon  other  circuits.  One  of  them  told  me 
that  he  had  joined  conference  many  years  before,  when 
he  was  but  nineteen  years  old.  The  first  year  he  was 
sent  to  one  of  the  roughest  mountain-circuits  in  Tennes- 
see. In  addition  to  the  usual  outfit,  he  had  a  bear-skin 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS.      185 

overcoat,  so  that,  if  necessary,  he  might  lodge  at  the  foot 
of  a  tree.  On  receiving  his  appointment,  his  predecessor 
gave  him  a  map  of  the  circuit,  upon  which  was  indicated 
all  the  preaching-places,  the  families  where  he  would  be 
most  comfortably  entertained,  and  other  items  to  aid  him 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  I  learned  that  this  was 
customary  at  the  first  conference  that  I  attended,  where 
I  saw  the  preachers  giving  the  maps  they  had  prepared 
of  their  circuits  to  their  successors  as  soon  as  their  ap- 
pointments were  read  out  by  the  bishop.  I  was  greatly 
interested  in  it,  as  I  had  so  often  felt  the  want  of  such  a 
guide  as  I  had  floundered  through  the  Brush,  with  noth- 
ing to  indicate  where  I  would  find  Christian  sympathy 
and  aid  in  my  work.  Having  reached  his  circuit  and  en- 
tered upon  his  labors,  he  found  it  necessary  to  cross  a 
mountain  in  order  to  reach  one  of  his  appointments,  and 
preach  to  the  families  that  were  scattered  up  and  down 
the  narrow  valley  and  over  the  mountain-sides.  It  was  a 
very  long  day's  ride,  and  only  a  mountain  bridle-path, 
with  no  friendly  family  on  the  route  to  aid  him  should 
he  lose  his  way.  Having  reached  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tain, he  found  several  paths  leading  in  different  direc- 
tions, all  equally  plain,  or  rather  equally  blind,  and  noth- 
ing to  indicate  which  one  of  them  he  should  take.  This 
was  a  most  uncomfortable  dilemma.  Himself  and  horse 
were  weary  with  the  long  ascent,  night  and  darkness 
were  coming  on,  and  he  had  no  time  to  lose.  He  took 
one  path,  followed  it  to  the  end,  and  returned.  He  took 


186  IN  THE 

another  and  another  with  the  same  result.  They  all  led 
to  where  a  tree  had  been  cut  down  for  some  wild  animal, 
for  bees,  or  for  staves,  shingles,  or  for  something  else, 
either  for  sale  or  for  the  use  of  the  mountaineers.  At 
length  the  darkness  closed  around  him,  and  he  made  the 
best  arrangements  possible  for  spending  the  night  upon 
the  mountain-top.  lie  fastened  his  horse,  made  as  good 
a  bed  as  he  could  with  leaves  and  the  other  materials  at 
hand,  and  lay  down  at  the  foot  of  a  tree,  finding  abun- 
dant need  thus  early  for  his  bear-skin  overcoat.  The 
night  wore  slowly  away,  and  he  did  not  like  to  trust  him- 
self to  sleep ;  but,  wearied  with  the  toils  of  the  day,  it 
overcame  him,  and,  as  he  was  falling  into  a  profound 
slumber,  the  terrific  yell  of  a  wild-cat  broke  upon  his  ear, 
and  he  sprang  at  once  to  the  back  of  his  horse.  Having 
no  other  weapon  than  a  large  pocket-knife,  he  opened 
that,  determined,  as  he  told  me,  "  to  make  the  best  fight 
he  could  with  that "  in  case  he  was  attacked.  But  he 
was  spared  this.  There  was  no  more  disposition  to  sleep, 
and  he  could  only  watch  and  wait  for  the  morning.  At 
length  he  heard  the  chickens  crowing  in  the  valley  below 
him,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  light  enough  he  started,  tak- 
ing the  direction  indicated  by  them.  This  led  him 
down  the  side  of  the  mountain  to  the  family  he  was 
seeking,  as  directed  by  his  circuit-map.  It  was  near  a 
large  spring,  forming  the  head-waters  of  one  of  the  im- 
portant Southern  rivers  (the  Holston).  Here  he  received 
the  warm  welcome  that  awaits  the  new  preacher  on  his 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-EIDERS.      187 

first  tour  around  his  circuit.  Notice  of  his  arrival,  and 
that  he  would  preach  at  their  house  that  night,  was  soon 
sent  to  their  nearest  neighbors,  and  by  them  communi- 
cated to  all  within  reach.  They  assembled  promptly  at 
night,  in  many  instances  the  parents  bringing  all  their 
children,  old  and  young.  As  the  different  groups  ar- 
rived, the  men  invariably  brought  their  rifles  and  stacked 
them  in  a  corner  of  the  room  as  they  entered  the  cabin. 
At  length  the  room  was  filled,  many  of  them  sitting 
upon  the  floor,  the  children  being  seated  nearest  the 
fireplace.  Taking  his  stand  near  the  chimney-corner, 
he  introduced  the  services  by  singing  and  prayer.  As 
they  had  no  candle  or  lamp,  they  prepared  for  his  use 
a  "  slut."  The.  light  to  which  they  give  this  not  inap- 
propriate name  is  made  by  putting  oil  or  tallow  in  a 
tea-saucer,  teacup,  or  any  bowl  or  basin  they  may  have, 
and  placing  in  this  a  strip  of  cotton  cloth,  allowing  the 
end  of  it  to  lie  over  the  edge  of  the  dish  for  a  wick, 
which,  when  lighted,  will  burn  until  the  tallow  or  oil  is 
consumed,  affording  ample  light.  Sometimes  they  take 
small  split  sticks,  tie  them  together,  and  insert  the  bun- 
dle in  the  tallow  for  a  wick,  as  a  substitute  for  the  cotton 
cloth.  "With  the  aid  of  this  light  he  was  able  to  "  line 
out "  his  hymns,  and  read  a  chapter  in  the  Bible  and  his 
text.  In  my  travels  in  the  Brush  I  have  seen  a  great 
many  of  these  "  sluts  " — to  say  nothing  of  others. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  services  no  one  moved.     All 
sat  quietly,  as  they  had  during  the  evening.     Now  their 


188  IX  THE  BRUSH. 

curiosity  must  be  satisfied.  They  wished  to  know  all 
about  him,  where  he  had  come  from,  and  how  he  had  got 
there.  They  were  greatly  interested  in  his  account  of 
his  stay  upon  the  mountain  the  night  before.  They 
knew  all  about  the  different  paths  he  had  taken,  and 
gave  explanations  that  were  quite  too  late  to  be  of  ser- 
vice to  him.  At  length,  wearied  with  his  long  ride  and 
watchings  the  night  before,  he  fell  asleep  upon  the  bed 
upon  which  he  had  laid  down  while  they  were  talking  to 
him.  In  the  midst  of  the  night  he  was  awakened  by  the 
noise  of  a  terrific  rain-storm,  and  heard  the  groaning  of 
some  animal  in  great  distress  near  the  house.  He  at 
once  thought  of  his  horse — that  he  had  been  hitched 
without  any  shelter — and  feared  that  in  the  storm  he  had 
gotten  down  and  was  in  this  distress.  An  itinerant 
preacher  without  a  horse  in  such  a  region  would  be  in 
a  sorry  condition,  and  he  had  no  time  to  lose.  So, 
bounding  from  his  bed  in  the  darkness,  he  made  his  way 
to  the  door,  but  it  was  over  a  mass  of  human  bodies. 
The  entire  congregation  were  asleep,  apparently,  in  the 
same  places  they  had  occupied  at  the  conclusion  of  his 
sermon.  Instead  of  his  horse,  he  found  that  a  calf  had 
gotten  down,  and  the  water  from  the  roof  was  pouring 
upon  it.  He  pulled  it  out  from  under  the  stream,  looked 
after  his  horse,  and  returned  to  his  bed.  In  the  morning 
the  congregation  slowly  dispersed,  and  he  went  on  his 
way  to  other  appointments  around  his  circuit. 

I  was  greatly  interested  and  amused  with  some  expe- 


OLD  TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS,       189 

riences  entirely  unlike  these,  which  were  related  to  me 
by  my  friend,  whom  I  have  already  introduced  to  my 
readers,  the  first  Methodist  circuit-rider  that  I  met 
deep  in  the  Brush.  He  had  some  years  before  received 
an  appointment  to  a  circuit  that  was  not  in  the  moun- 
tains, but  in  a  poor,  broken,  hilly  region  of  country. 
Having  been  provided  with  a  map  of  his  circuit  by  his 
predecessor,  he  was  making  his  way  to  a  part  of  it  known 
as  "  Coon  Range."  Everything  indicated  the  extremest 
poverty  and  ignorance  among  the  people.  The  very 
small  patches  of  ground  cleared  and  cultivated  around 
their  wretched  cabins,  and  the  coon,  deer,  and  other 
skins  that  were  hanging  up  around  them,  showed  that 
the  chief  dependence  of  the  people  for  a  livelihood  was 
upon  the  chase.  Penetrating  deeper  and  deeper  into 
this  utterly  wild  and  desolate  region,  his  horse  struck  and 
followed  a  neighborhood  footpath  until  it  led  him  to  the 
back  side  of  a  cabin.  An  opening  had  been  cut  through 
the  logs  for  a  small  window,  but  as  yet  there  was  no  sash 
or  glass  in  it.  The  woman,  hearing  the  sound  of  the 
footsteps  of  his  horse  as  he  rode  up,  stuck  her  head  out 
of  this  opening,  and  at  the  first  sight  saluted  him  with, 

"  How  'dy,  stranger,  how  'dy  ?  I  reckon  you  are 
our  new  preacher." 

He  told  her  he  had  been  appointed  to  that  circuit, 
and  gave  her  his  name.  At  this  she  was  all  excitement 
and  joy,  and  said  : 

'Light,   Brother   M  -  -,   'light,  sir.      I'm   mighty 


"' 


190 


BRUSH. 


glad  to  see  you.  Brother  K—  -  used  to  stay  with  us 
a  heap,  and  I've  got  the  '  class-book.'  " 

As  soon  as  he  entered  the  house  she  brought  the 
class-book,  and  began  to  give  him  a  full  account  of  each 
member  of  the  class.  But  he  told  her  it  was  nearly 
night,  and  he  had  had  no  dinner.  lie  had  ridden  all  day, 
and  he  was  very  hungry  and  very  tired.  She  replied  to 
this  intimation  : 

"  We'll  have  supper  d'rectly,  Brother  H  --  ,  d'rect- 
]y.  The  pig  is  in  the  pen.  And  Joe,  he'll  be  home 
right  soon,  and  get  the  water  a  bilin'.  We'll  have  sup- 
per d'rectly,  Brother  M  -  ." 

To  those  unacquainted  with  the  people  in  the  Brush, 
the  fact  that  "  the  pig  was  in  the  pen,"  and  yet  to  be 
butchered,  would  seem  to  be  a  somewhat  strange  reason 
to  give  that  the  supper  would  be  ready  "  d'rectly."  But 
with  her  it  was  a  very  important  advance  in  that  direc- 
tion. The  rest  of  the  pigs,  of  which  I  have  elsewhere 
said  these  people,  with  little  care,  raised  the  greatest 
abundance  for  their  own  use,  were  perhaps  miles  away, 
in  some  unknown  direction,  ranging  the  forest  for  acorns, 
beech-nuts,  and  other  "mast"  that  abounded  in  that 
season.  "  Joe  "  was  such  a  provident  husband  that  he 
had  gone  out  and  hunted  those  that  belonged  to  him, 
called  them  up  to  his  house,  captured  and  "  penned  "  one 
of  them,  perhaps  in  anticipation  of  the  coming  of  the 
preacher.  As  the  supper  was  so  well  assured  to  her, 
and  not  dreaming  that  the  delay  of  a  few  hours  could 


OLD-TIME  METHODIST  CIRCUIT-RIDERS.      191 

make  any  more  difference  with  him  than  it  did  with  the 
people  in  the  Brush,  she  resumed  the  class-book,  and 
began  to  go  over  the  names,  and  tell  how  this  brother 
could  pray,  and  this  sister  shout,  and  how  they  could  all 
sing,  and  what  happy  meetings  they  had  had  the  last 
conference  year,  until  he  interrupted  her  with  the  story 
of  his  long  ride,  great  fatigue,  and  intense  hunger.  To 
this  she  responded,  in  the  most  assuring  manner : 

"  We'll  have  supper  d'rectly,  Brother  M ,  d'rect- 

ly.  The  pig  is  in  the  pen.  Joe  he'll  be  home  right 
soon,  and  get  the  water  a  b'ilin',  and  we'll  have  supper 
d'rectly,  Brother  M ,  d'rectly." 

Having  given  him  this,  to  her,  perfectly  satisfactory 
and  renewed  assurance,  she  went  on  with  the  greatest 
enthusiasm  and  earnestness  to  tell  him  of  their  love- 
feasts,  and  the  wonderful  "experiences"  of  some  of  the 
sisters,  when,  in  utter  despair  of  getting  any  supper 
from  this  zealous  sister,  he  asked  her  the  distance  to 
the  nearest  family  indicated  on  his  map.  She  told  him 
it  was  about  three  miles.  He  went  out  to  his  horse  and 
mounted  it.  She  followed  him  with  blank  amazement, 
and  said : 

"  Why,  Brother  M ,  you're  not  agwine,  is  you  ? " 

He  replied : 

"  Oh,  yes,  Sister ;  I  must  have  something  to  eat,"  and 
started  off. 

Astonished  beyond  measure,  she  called  after  him, 
and  he  rode  away  hearing  her  emphatic  promise : 


!92  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

"  We'll  have  supper  d'rectly,  Brother  M ,  d'rectly. 

The  pig  is  in  the  pen,  and  Joe  he'll  be  home  right 
soon,  and  he'll  get  the  water  a  b'ilin'  d'rectly,  and  we'll 

have  supper  d'rectly,  Brother  M ,  d'rectly !  d'rectly  ! 

d'rectly!" 

Such  are  some  of  the  experiences  I  have  had  with 
old-time  Methodist  circuit-riders  in  the  Brush,  and  such 
are  some  of  the  accounts  they  have  given  me  of  their 
experiences  upon  other  circuits.  They  are  but  specimens 
of  such  as  were  constantly  occurring  during  the  months 
and  years  of  my  ante-bellum  labors  in  the  Southwest. 
Many  of  them  are  so  dim  and  faded  on  the  tablets  of 
my  memory  that  I  can  not  recall  them.  After  so  many 
years,  I  now,  for  the  first  time,  record  these  on  more 
enduring  pages,  thinking  they  may  afford  both  pleasure 
and  instruction,  and  anxious,  also,  to  wreath  a  garland  of 
merited  praise  around  the  brows  of  those  toiling,  and  too 
little  known,  and  too  little  honored  circuit-riders  in  the 
Brush. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

HEROIC    CHRISTIAN    WORKERS    IN    THE    SOUTHWEST. 

IT  was  a  bright,  dreamy,  autumnal  day,  that  I  was 
making  my  way  among  the  bayous  of  one  of  the  most 
sluggish  of  the  rivers  that  enter  and  swell  the  volume  of 
the  Mississippi.  My  ride  since  morning  had  been  very 
long  and  very  lonely.  It  is  a  strange  sort  of  life  to  ride 
on  horseback,  week  after  week  and  month  after  month, 
over  a  new  and  sparsely  settled  country.  The  most  of 
such  journeys  are  alone.  One  but  rarely  meets  with  com- 
pany, and  then  they  usually  travel  together  but  a  short 
distance  before  their  paths  diverge  and  they  separate. 
In  these  long,  splitary  rides,  any  unusual  scene  or  inci- 
dent startles  one  as  from  a  dreamy  reverie,  and  makes 
a  lasting,  an  almost  ineffaceable,  impression  upon  the 
memory. 

I  have  very  often  recalled,  and  shall  hardly  forget 
while  I  live,  a  most  pleasing  incident  in  this  day's  ride. 
I  had  recently  traveled  over  a  wide  scope  of  country  in- 
cluding a  half  a  dozen  counties,  where  the  land  was  nearly 
as  level  as  the  numerous  streams  that  flowed  through  it. 


AV  THE  BRUSH. 

The  Boil  was  entirely  alluvial,  and  very  rich.  Occasion- 
ally, gentle  elevations  of  a  very  few  feet  swelled  above 
the  surrounding  level,  which  were  crowned  with  large 
oaks  having  short  trunks  and  heavy  tops  with  wide-spread- 
ing branches.  These  oaks  were  usually  interspersed  with 
smaller  trees  and  underbrush.  As  I  floundered  through 
a  wet,  marshy  road,  and  struck  a  sandy  path  leading  up 
one  of  these  elevations,  I  saw  a  number  of  horses  hitched 
to  the  limbs  of  the  trees,  and  soon  came  up  to  a  plain 
unpainted  church  or  chapel.  Its  only  foundation  was 
the  few  wooden  blocks  upon  which  it  stood,  and  the 
windows  were  without  sash  or  glass,  the  shutters  made 
of  boards,  being  thrown  open  to  admit  the  light,  and 
closed  when  the  services  were  ended.  I  rode  under  a 
tree,  hitched  my  horse  to  a  limb,  and  entered  the  church 
as  quietly  as  possible.  The  preacher  had  closed  his  ser- 
mon, and  was  about  concluding  the  services.  It  was  the 
close  of  a  meeting  which  had  continued  several  days,  in 
which  a  number  of  hardened  and  very  hopeless  sinners 
had  been  led  to  Christ.  It  was  his  last  appointment  be- 
fore leaving  them  for  conference.  The  labors  of  the 
year  had  left  their  impress  upon  his  whole  frame.  He 
looked  wan  and  worn.  He  had  breathed  the  malaria  of 
the  rivers,  bayous,  and  marshes,  along  which  he  had 
sought  out  these  people  in  their  homes,  and  near  which 
he  had  preached  to  them,  until  it  had  changed  the  color 
of  his  flesh  to  a  bloodless  saifron  hue.  I  never  before  or 
since  saw  such  a  human  face.  It  bespoke  a  body,  soul, 


A  circuit  rider  in  the  Brush. 


CHRISTIAN  WORKERS  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  195 

and  spirit,  heartily,  wholly,  and  irrevocably  consecrated  to 
his  noble  work.  There  was  over,  it  that  perfect  calmness 
that  succeeds  long  and  intense  anxiety  and  excitement, 
when  their  end  has  been  fully  attained.  As  he  spoke  to 
them  of  the  labors  of  the  year,  and  of  his  departure  for 
conference,  he  was  the  only  one  that  seemed  unmoved. 
His  voice  was  low  and  calm  amid  the  weeping  that  was 
all  around  him.  Among  the  most  noted  of  the  converts 
was  a  woman  who  for  years  had  done  more  than  any  other 
person  in  the  neighborhood  to  counteract  the  influence  of 
the  preachers  who  had  labored  on  that  circuit,  and  to  in- 
jure the  little  church.  She  was  famous  as  a  fiddler,  and 
the  leader  in  getting  up  all  the  neighborhood  dances,  and 
it  was  difficult  for  the  young  converts  to  withstand  the 
fascinations  of  her  bow.  In  former  years  she  had  fid- 
dled a  great  many  of  them  out  of  the  class  before  their 
six  months'  probation  had  expired.  Now  that  she  had  at 
last  been  brought  down,  there  was  general  rejoicing.  It 
was  like  the  fall  of  some  tall  oak  of  the  forest  that 
brings  down  many  smaller  trees  with  it.  They  could 
now  sing,  as  I  have  often  heard  them  in  their  log-cabins : 

"Shout!   shout,  we're  gaining  ground, 

Oh,  glory  Halleluyah! 
"We'll  shout  old  Satan's  kingdom  down, 
Oh,  glory  Halleluyah!" 

This  woman  sat  in  a  chair  near  the  pulpit  (with  her 
little  babe  lying,  smiling  and  playful,  upon  her  lap),  par- 
ticipating with  the  deepest  interest  in  all  the  services, 


W  THE  BRUSH. 

and  weeping  among  those  most  deeply  moved.  At  the 
conclusion  of  his  remarks  the  preacher  baptized  this  little 
child,  the  mother  giving  to  it  the  double  name  of  himself 
and  his  colleague  on  the  circuit.  His  work  thus  ended, 
he  sang  alone,  in  a  clear,  firm  voice,  a  simple  and  beauti- 
ful parting  hymn,  that  I  can  not  now  repeat,  with  the 

refrain, 

"  Brothers,  fare  ye  well," 

passing  at  the  same  time  through  the  congregation  and 
shaking  hands  with  the  weeping  class-leaders,  stewards, 
local  preachers,  and  other  brethren  present.  He  then 
moved  to  the  other  side  of  the  room,  and  sang  on  in  the 
same  manner,  changing  the  refrain  to, 

"  Sisters,  fare  ye  well," 

and  shook  hands  with  each  one  of  them,  he  alone  being 
perfectly  calm  amid  their  convulsive  weeping  and  sobs. 
The  benediction  was  then  pronounced,  and  I  withdrew 
as  quietly  as  I  had  entered,  and  resumed  my  journey. 
Such  labors  in  such  a  region  illustrate  a  moral  heroism 
that  is  both  heroic  and  sublime. 

REV.   JAMES    HAWTHOBN,    D.    D. 

I  recall  a  very  different  experience  with  another  type 
and  class  of  these  heroic  workers  for  the  Master.*    Many 

*  The  late  Rev.  James  Hawthorn,  D.  D.,  of  Princeton,  Kentucky.  Ev- 
ery word  of  this  record  of  his  heroic  labors  was  written  while  he  was  yet 
alive,  and  I  did  not  wish  to  startle  or  offend  his  sensitiveness  and  modesty 
by  giving  his  name  to  the  public.  But,  now  that  he  has  gone  to  his  full 


CHRISTIAN   WORKERS  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.   107 

years  before,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  from  his 
home  in  the  Southwest,  over  the  Alleghany  Mountains, 
onward  to  Philadelphia,  and  thence  to  Princeton,  New 
Jersey,  where  he  sold  his  horse  and  spent  three  years  in 
the  Theological  Seminary.  He  had  then  returned,  and 
spent  his  ministerial  life  in  preaching  to  feeble  congrega- 
tions that  were  able  to  pay  but  a  small  salary  for  his 
services.  At  the  time  I  first  met  him  he  preached  regu- 
larly on  alternate  Sabbaths  to  two  congregations  about 
twenty  miles  apart.  In  those  months  in  which  there  was 
a  "  fifth  Sabbath,"  he  usually  visited  some  yet  smaller 
congregation,  often  at  a  greater  distance,  for  the  purpose 
of  preaching  to  them,  and  perhaps  administering  the 
communion  and  baptizing  their  children.  But  this  was 
only  a  small  part  of  the  labor  he  performed.  The  com- 
pensation he  received  for  these  services  was  entirely  inad- 
equate for  the  support  of  his  family,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  supplement  his  salary  by  other  and  more  arduous  la- 
bors. He  spent  five  days  each  week  in  teaching  a  school 
in  the  basement  of  his  church.  And  they. were  not  such 
days'  work  as  are  usually  given  to  teaching.  Immemo- 
rial custom  in  that  region  had  required  of  teachers  near- 
ly as  many  hours'  daily  labor  in  the  school-room  as  were 

and  glorious  reward  on  high,  I  am  most  happy  to  pay  this  tribute  of 
abounding  veneration  and  love  to  this  noble  servant  of  our  common  Mas- 
ter. As  his  compensation  for  his  purely  missionary  services  was  so  very 
small,  I  once  took  the  liberty  of  suggesting  that  he  should  receive  a  stipend 
from  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions.  It  was  most  respectfully, 
but  positively  declined.  That  was  the  true  Pauline  spirit  of  the  man. 


19g  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

given  to  any  other  employment.  Hence  he  usually  be- 
gan his  labors  in  the  school  at  or  before  eight  in  the 
morning,  and  did  not  close  until  five,  or  later,  in  the  af- 
ternoon. His  scholars  were  of  all  ages  and  grades  of 
attainment,  and  they  pursued  a  great  variety  of  studies. 
Many  of  both  sexes  studied  the  higher  English,  classical, 
and  mathematical  branches,  and  completed  their  educa- 
tion at  this  school.  This  diversity  in  the  ages  of  the 
scholars  and  the  books  they  attempted  to  master  added 
greatly  to  his  labors  ;  but  from  early  Monday  morning 
until  late  Friday  afternoon  he  toiled  faithfully  in  the 
echool-room,  term  after  term  and  year  after  year.  With 
all  this  teaching,  he  had  the  other  labors  indispensably 
connected  with  such  a  school — the  care  of  the  school- 
room, consultations  with  parents,  the  collection  of  bills, 
and  all  the  nameless  calls  and  duties  connected  with  its 
care  and  government.  When  to  the  long  rides  and  other 
labors  as  a  pastor,  and  the  duties  of  a  teacher,  that  I  have 
enumerated,  are  added  those  of  a  housekeeper  in  provid- 
ing for  his  family,  there  would  seem  to  be  little  time 
left  for  the  preparation  of  sermons.  But  these  were 
thoroughly  studied,  and  very  often  fully  written,  in 
hours  chat  most  others  would  have  given  to  rest  and 
sleep. 

On  a  cold  midwinter  day  I  mounted  my  horse  and 
rode  with  him  some  twenty  miles  to  his  regular  appoint- 
ment on  Saturday  afternoon.  When  we  reached  the  log- 
school-house  in  the  outskirts,  of  his  congregation  but  a 


CHRISTIAN  WORKERS  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.    199 

small  number  bad  come  out  through  tbe  cold,  and  at  bis 
request  I  preached  to  them.  We  then  rode  home  with 
an  old  Presbyterian  elder,  the  cold  constantly  increasing 
in  severity.  His  heart  was  much  warmer  than  his  log- 
house.  We  slept  in  a  room  which  he  tried  in  vain  to 
warm  with  a  large  wood-fire.  But  the  water  we  were  to 
use  in  the  morning  froze  solid,  though  placed  as  near  the 
fire  as  possible.  After  breakfast  we  mounted  our  horses 
and  rode  a  few  miles  to  church,  though  it  was  so  cold 
that  I  nearly  froze  in  going,  and  was  obliged  to  stop  on 
the  way  to  warm  myself.  I  preached  to  a  congregation 
of  about  forty,  and  we  reorganized  the  county  Bible  So- 
ciety. Having  kindly  rendered  me  all  the  aid  in  his 
power,  he  mounted  his  horse  after  dinner,  and  rode 
home  through  the  cold  in  order  to  be  able  to  open  his 
school  promptly  on  Monday  morning.  At  other  seasons 
of  the  year,  when  the  weather  was  such  that  the  people 
could  assemble  for  worship,  he  was  accustomed  to  preach 
at  the  church  in  the  morning,  and  at  some  school-house 
like  that  in  which  I  had  preached,  in  other  and  distant 
parts  of  the  congregation,  late  in  the  afternoon.  He 
would  then  mount  his  horse  and  ride  over  the  roughest 
roads,  often  through  mud,  rain,  and  darkness,  reaching 
home  late  at  night,  so  that  without  fail  he  might 
promptly  open  his  school  the  next  morning.  I  inquired 
and  learned  of  others  the  salary  that  was  promised  him 
for  preaching  in  this  manner  to  this  congregation,  twenty 
miles  from  his  home,  twice  each  month.  I  would  s-tate 


200  ^-v  THE 

the  amount,  but  I  remember  the  story,  told  me  by  my 
genial  friend,  the  late  Kev.  Dr.  William  L.  Brecken- 
ridge,  of  an  Irishman  who  desired  to  hare  a  letter  writ- 
ten home  to  Ireland  from  Kentucky,  many  years  be- 
fore, when  provisions  were  most  abundant  and  cheap. 

After  mentioning  a  good  many  things  that  he  wished 
him  to  write  to  his  friends  in  regard  to  America,  he 
said : 

"  Tell  them  that  I  get  all  the  meat  I  can  eat  three 
times  a  week." 

"And  what  do  you  mean  by  that?"  said  his  em- 
ployer. "  Don't  you  get  all  the  bacon  you  can  eat  three 
times  a  day  \  v 

"Yes,  your  riverence,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 

"  "Well,  then,  what  do  you  mean  by  writing  to  your 
friends  in  Ireland  that  you  get  all  the  meat  you  can 
eat  three  times  a  week?" 

"  Faith,"  said  Pat,  "  and  thcrt  is  more  than  they  will 
belave." 

But  these  were  not  the  hardest  and  most  poorly 
remunerated  of  the  labors  of  my  friend.  In  some  of 
his  visits  to  smaller  congregations  on  the  "fifth  Sab- 
bath "  his  rides  were  much  longer,  and  he  encountered 
difficulties  and  discouragements  such  as  most  Presby- 
terian ministers  have  never  dreamed  of.  I  will  relate 
a  single  case.  A  small  church  some  fifty  miles  distant 
was  without  a  pastor,  and  for  a  long  time  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  had  not  been  administered 


CHRISTIAN   WORKERS  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  201 

to  them.  Always  ready  to  aid  and  cheer  such  strug- 
gling churches,  he  promised  to  give  them  a  "  fifth  Sab- 
bath." I  will  here  say  that  there  were  hundreds  of 
churches  of  different  denominations  in  the  Southwest 
and  South  that  did  not  have  preaching  every  Sabbath. 
They  enjoyed  this  privilege  but  twice  a  month,  once  a 
month,  or  less  frequently.  When  their  appointments 
for  preaching  were  regular,  the  number  of  the  Sabbath 
in  the  month  was  always  specified,  as.  for  instance,  the 
first  and  third  Sabbaths  might  be  the  days  selected  for 
preaching  regularly  at  one  church,  and  the  second  and 
fourth  Sabbaths  might  be  appropriated  to  two  other 
churches.  Or  the  first,  second,  third,  and  fourth  Sab- 
baths might  be  the  days  fixed  for  regular  preaching, 
once  a  month,  at  four  different  places.  And  so  of 
all  week-day  appointments  for  preaching.  They  were 
always  made  for  some  day  in  the  first,  second,  third,  or 
fourth  week  in  the  month.  Hence  the  people  did  not 
need  to  consult  an  almanac  in  regard  to  the  day  of 
the  month,  and  there  was  rarely  any  mistake  or  con- 
fusion in  regard  to  these  appointments.  Where  sev- 
eral different  denominations  occupied  the  same  court- 
house or  building  for  preaching  on  successive  Sabbaths, 
this  was  a  matter  of  great  importance.  It  always  stirred 
bad  blood  when  from  design  on  either  part  these  ap- 
pointments conflicted,  or,  in  the  language  of  the  Brush, 
"locked  horns."  From  the  simplicity  of  this  method 
of  making  appointments  the  people  would  learn  for 


202  IN  THE  BRUSg. 

miles  around,  and  remember  for  months  ahead,  that  a 
basket-meeting,  sacramental  meeting,  or  camp-meeting 
would  commence  on  the  second  Friday  in  August,  or 
the  third  Thursday  in  September,  or  any  other  day  that 
was  announced  in  this  manner.  As  the  "fifth  Sab- 
bath" is  of  infrequent  occurrence,  young  preachers 
often  took  this  day  to  visit  their  mothers  and  sweet- 
hearts, and  old  preachers  made  missionary  tours  and 
visited  neglected  neighborhoods  and  destitute  churches. 
It  was  such  a  day  and  such  a  work  my  worthy  friend 
had  promised  the  little  church  to  which  I  have  alluded. 
After  his  accustomed  labors  for  the  week,  he  on  Satur- 
day performed  the  long,  rough  horseback  ride,  and  on 
Sabbath  preached  and  administered  the  communion  to 
them.  But  it  was  not  a  pleasant  service.  The  day  was 
cold ;  the  church,  like  others  I  have  described,  had  no 
other  foundation  than  blocks  of  wood ;  the  hogs  of  the 
neighborhood  had  made  their  bed  under  it,  and  they 
successfully  disputed  all  efforts  to  drive  them  from  their 
warm  shelter.  Hence  all  the  services  of  preaching  and 
the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  were  performed 
with  the  accompaniment  of  their  incessant  squealing 
and  fighting  immediately  under  the  pulpit  and  com- 
munion-table. The  long,  cold  ride  home  extended  into 
the  darkness  of  midnight.  How  few  have  ever  gra- 
tuitously performed  so  laborious  a  service  with  so  little 
to  compensate,  so  much  to  sadden  and  distress ! 

But  such  experiences  were  relieved  by  many  of  a  far 


CHRISTIAN  WORKERS  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.    203 

different  character.  To  many  feeble  churches  his  coming 
was  anticipated  by  all  needed  preparations,  and  he  was 
greeted  with  great  joy  by  the  little  flock.  They  listened 
with  delight  to  the  truths  that  they  loved  as  they  fell 
from  his  lips.  Cheerful  homes  welcomed  him  and 
were  gladdened  by  his  presence.  To  many  scattered 
families  of  the  church  to  which  he  belonged  his  pas- 
toral visits  were  all  that  they  received,  and  they  were 
the  more  prized  because  such  visits  were  so  rare  to 
them. 

Faithful,  laborious,  self-denying  man  of  God !  his 
toils  have  not  been  unrewarded  in  the  past,  and  they 
will  be  abundantly  honored  in  the  future. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

STRANGE   PEOPLE  I   HAVE   MET   IN   THE    SOUTHWEST. 

I  HAVE  met  a  great  many  very  odd  and  strange 
characters  in  the  Southwest.  The  peculiar  life  of  the 
people  developed  their  originality.  They  were  not  re- 
strained by  the  laws  and  customs  that  control  older 
and  more  established  communities.  Every  man  was  a 
law  unto  himself.  All  that  was  unusual  and  peculiar 
in  their  natural  characters  grew  in  unrestrained  luxuri- 
ance like  the  wild  vines  on  their  hillsides  and  in  their 
valleys.  What  any  man  or  community  might  think  of 
their  actions  or  mode  of  life  had  the  least  possible  in- 
fluence in  deciding  what  they  should  do  or  not  do. 
The  laws  of  fashion,  generally  so  tyrannical,  were  ut- 
terly powerless  with  them.  What  any  one  else  might 
think  of  the  color,  shape,  or  quality  of  a  garment, 
had  no  effect  upon  them.  They  dressed  entirely  in 
accordance  with  their  own  notions  of  comfort.  This 
same  kind  of  independence  characterized  all  their  ac- 
tions and  their  entire  life. 


STEANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      205 

I  frequently  passed  the  plantation  of  a  very  marked 
character  of  this  peculiar  type,  who,  by  great  energy 
and  native  shrewdness,  acquired  a  large  property,  and 
became  the  owner  of  many  slaves.  His  dress  and 
personal  appearance  were  such  that  strangers  calling 
at  his  house  on  business  often  mistook  him  for  a 
plantation  "field-hand,"  and  called  on  him  to  open 
the  gate  leading  to  his  residence,  or  for  any  service 
they  would  expect  from  a  slave.  He  could  read  and 
write,  but  his  spelling  was  about  as  bad  as  possible. 
On  one  occasion  he  wrote  an  advertisement  and  took 
it  to  a  printing-office.  The  proprietor,  knowing  his  posi- 
tive traits  of  character,  told  him  as  politely  as  possible 
that  there  were  some  mistakes  in  the  spelling,  which, 
with  his  permission,  he  would  correct  in  printing  the 
advertisement.  The  old  man  was  as  positive  and  un- 
yielding in  regard  to  his  spelling  as  in  regard  to  his 
dress  and  everything  else,  and  would  submit  to  no 
changes.  That  was  his  way  of  spelling,  and  his  way 
was  as  good  as  anybody's  way.  It  must  be  printed 
exactly  as  he  had  written  it,  or  not  at  all.  It  was  so 
printed;  and  in  addition  to  the  amusement  it  afforded 
to  the  people  of  that  region,  a  copy  was  sent  to  a 
large  museum  in  a  Southwestern  city,  and  was  among 
the  most  amusing  of  all  their  curiosities. 

In  a  long  horseback-ride  over  a  turnpike-road  con- 
necting two  large  Southwestern  cities,  I  stopped  to 
dine  and  feed  my  horse  at  a  house  of  entertain- 


206  IN   THE  BRUSH. 

ment.  Entering  a  small  apartment  that  served  for  a 
sleeping-room  for  the  family  and  a  sitting-room  for 
travelers,  I  met  a  sight  very  unusual  in  that  region. 
I  found  the  walls  of  the  room  covered  with  a  large 
number  of  cheap  lithographic  portraits  of  the  promi- 
nent statesmen  and  military  heroes  of  the  country.  A 
very  brief  interview  showed  me  that  my  host  was  "  to 
the  manner  born,"  and  a  very  striking  and  original  char- 
acter. At  length  I  alluded  to  the  portraits  hanging 
about  his  room  and  said : 

"  You  seem  to  be  very  fond  of  pictures,  sir." 

"  I  am  a  patriot,  sir,"  he  replied. 

Feeling  quite  sure  that  I  should  get  a  positive  opin- 
ion, without  any  sort  of  hesitation  I  said  to  him : 

"  And  who,  sir,  do  you  think  was  the  greatest  man 
of  all  the  Presidents,  statesmen,  and  military  and  naval 
heroes  whose  portraits  you  have  here  ? " 

"Andrew  Jackson,  sir,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 

"Ah!"  said  I,  "I  see,  sir,  that  you  have  the  por- 
trait of  Washington.  Was  Andrew  Jackson  a  greater 
man  than  George  Washington,  sir?" 

"I  tell  you,  sir,"  said  he,  "Andrew  Jackson  was 
the  greatest  man  God  ever  made.  He  was  a  man  of 
firmness — more  firmness  than  Washington." 

Greatly  to  my  surprise,  I  had  found  lying  open  upon 
a  bed  in  our  sitting-room  a  copy  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Beech- 
er  Stowe's  "Key  to  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  but  recently 
published,  the  only  copy  I  ever  saw  in  that  region.  I 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      207 

made  some  inquiries  in  regard  to  it,  and  lie  told  me 
he  had  bought  it  of  a  Jew  peddler  who  had  spent  a 
night  with  him.  He  was  very  much  absorbed  in  read- 
ing it. 

"  I  tell  you,  sir,"  said  he,  "  the  man  that  wrote  that 
book  was  a  very  smart  man.  They  say  'twas  a  woman ; 
but  I  tell  you,  sir,  the  man  that  wrote  that  book  was 
a  very  smart  man."  In  all  our  long  conversation  he 
did  not  give  the  slightest  possible  credence  to  the  idea 
that  the  book  had  been  written  by  a  woman.  His  oft- 
repeated  and  invariable  statement  was: 

"I  tell  you,  sir,  the  man  that  wrote  that  book  was 
a  very  smart  man.  They  say  'twas  a  woman ;  but  I 
tell  you,  sir,  the  man  that  wrote  that  book  was  a  very 
smart  man." 

A  large  number  of  his  slaves  wrere  passing  in  and 
out  of  the  room,  preparing  our  dinner.  At  length  he 
said  to  me : 

"  I  tell  you,  stranger,  that  is  my  greatest  trouble. 
What  is  to  become  of  these  people  when  I  am 
gone  ? " 

I  knew  that  the  laws  of  the  State  forbade  his  eman- 
cipating and  leaving  them  there,  and  so  I  said : 

"  I  suppose  you  know  that  some  masters  are  freeing 
their  slaves  and  sending  them  to  Liberia." 

"  I  know  that,  sir,"  said  he,  "  and  I  have  told  mine 
that  I  would  free  them  all  and  send  them  there  if 
they  would  go.  But  they  have  told  me  they  would 


208  I&  THE  BRUSH. 

rather  I  would  chop  them  into  mince-meat  than  go 
there." 

Their  ears  had  been  filled  with  such  tales  in  regard 
to  Liberia  that  this  was  their  idea  of  the  place.  As  I 
never  saw  the  old  man  but  this  once,  I  do  not  know 
what  became  of  him  or  his  slaves. 

In  former  chapters  I  have  spoken  of  my  visit  to  a 
celebrated  watering-place.  I  met  there  some  very  strange 
characters.  My  sermon  in  a  "  ballroom  "  was  preached 
at  this. watering-place.  I  found  it  much  more  of  a  re- 
sort for  gamblers  than  clergymen.  In  the  general  sus- 
pension of  travel  on  the  Southern  and  Western  rivers, 
on  account  of  the  low  stage  of  the  water,  and  other 
causes,  the  gamblers,  who  usually  plied  their  vocation 
upon  the  river-steamers,  congregated  in  large  numbers 
at  these  Springs.  The  waters  were  famed  for  cleans- 
ing the  system,  and  preventing  malarious  diseases.  In 
addition  to  this  improvement  of  their  health,  and  prep- 
aration for  the  renewal  of  their  usual  employment  on 
the  steamers,  and  at  the  cities  and  towns  along  the 
rivers,  they  found  many  subjects  upon  whom  to  prac- 
tice their  arts  successfully,  among  the  numerous  and 
often  verdant  visitors  at  the  Springs. 

Wishing  to  avail  myself  of  the  benefit  of  these  wa- 
ters, I  spent  some  two  or  three  weeks  here,  visiting 
meanwhile  a  large  number  of  neighborhoods  in  the 
vicinity,  in  the  prosecution  of  my  labors.  I  witnessed 
here  the  most  remarkable  devotion  to  card-playing  that 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      209 

I  have  ever  seen  or  known.  The  principal  sleeping- 
apartments  for  the  hundred  or  more  guests  were  in  a 
long,  low,  log  structure,  but  a  single  story  high — a 
series  of  cabins — with  a  piazza  along  the  whole  front 
which  served  as  the  general  promenade  for  the  visit- 
ors. In  going  to  and  from  my  room,  day  after  day, 
I  passed  a  table  standing  upon  this  piazza,  within  a 
foot  or  two  of  my  door,  which  was  surrounded  by 
card  -  players.  The  principal  character  at  this  table 
was  an  old,  gray-headed  man,  apparently  not  less  than 
seventy  years  of  age.  In  the  morning  he  always  ac- 
companied his  wife  to  the  dining-room,  and,  as  they 
returned  from  breakfast,  they  separated  at  the  door, 
and  she  went  alone  up  the  piazza  to  her  room,  and 
he  walked  down  the  piazza  in  the  opposite  direction, 
and  took  his  seat  at  this  card-table.  It  was  the  hot- 
test July  weather,  and  the  old  man  took  off  his  coat 
and  vest,  rolled  up  his  shirt-sleeves  above  his  elbows, 
and  sat  down  and  played  cards,  without  any  interval, 
until  the  first  bell  rang  for  dinner.  He  then  went 
to  his  room  and  waited  upon  his  wife  to  the  table. 
As  they  returned,  he  parted  with  her  at  the  door -of 
the  dining-room,  as  after  breakfast,  walked  down  to 
his  card-table,  disrobed  himself,  and  took  his  seat  as  in 
the  morning,  and  played  without  cessation  until  the 
first  bell  rang  for  supper.  He  then  went  to  his  room 
and  waited  upon  his  wife  to  the  table  as  before. 
This  was  repeated,  with  unfailing  regularity,  day  after 


210  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

day,  and  week  after  week.  I  was  told  that  he  was 
not  a  professional  gambler.  As  I  passed  the  table, 
which  I  was  compelled  to  do  every  time  I  went  to 
my  room,  there  was  not  usually  a  great  deal  of 
money  lying  upon  it  at  stake  in  the  game — only 
"  enough  to  keep  up  the  interest  and  excitement." 
But  sometimes  there  were  piles  of  gold  lying  over 
the  table,  and  they  seemed  to  be  gambling  in  ear- 
nest and  for  large  amounts. 

The  devotion  of  this  old  man  to  cards  or  gambling 
was  so  remarkable  that  I  confess  I  was  somewhat  sur- 
prised to  see  him  enter  the  ballroom  with  his  wife 
among  the  first  of  those  who  assembled  to  hear  me 
preach  on  the  Sabbath.  I  had  preached  at  a  court- 
house, a  few  miles  away,  in  the  morning,  and  returned 
here  to  address  the  people  at  four  in  the  afternoon. 
There  was  a  general  attendance  of  the  visitors,  includ- 
ing the  well-known  professional  gamblers,  and  all  gave 
me  as  respectful  a  hearing  as  I  could  desire.  I  was 
furnished  with  a  Bible  for  the  occasion,  but  there  was 
no  hymn-book.  I  expected  to  resort  to  the  expedient 
of  "lining  out"  some  familiar  hymns,  which  was  the 
most  frequent  method  of  singing  in  this  region.  But 
the  old  card-player  came  forward  to  the  table  where 
I  was  sitting,  and  handed  me  an  Old  School  Presbyte- 
rian hymn-book,  which  I  had  seen  his  wife  bring  into 
the  ballroom,  and  which  she  sent  up  for  my  use,  as 
she  saw  there  was  no  hymn-book  on  the  table.  Some 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST,      2H 

months  after  I  recognized  the  aged  couple  in  a  large 
city  congregation  to  which  1  was  preaching,  and  was 
afterward  told  by  its  honored  and  beloved  pastor  that 
the  old  man  was  one  of  the  most  regular  and  atten- 
tive attendants  at  his  church,  and  that  his  habits  as  I 
have  described  them  were  widely  known.  'His  man- 
ner was  so  apparently  reverential,  and  his  attention  so 
marked,  that  strangers  preaching  there  often  got  the 
impression  that  he  was  one  of  the  elders  of  the  church. 
So  strange  and  paradoxical  are  the  "  characters  that 
make  up  the  world." 

Among  the  visitors  at  the  Springs  was  one  who  was 
a  very  wealthy  man,  a  large  slaveholder,  and  a  very 
great  invalid.  He  was  a  cripple,  with  one  limb  much 
shorter  and  smaller  than  the  other,  and  was  compelled 
to  use  two  crutches  to  walk  at  all.  As  I  saw  him 
mingling  with  the  visitors,  I  observed  that  he  was 
profane,  rollicking,  genial,  and  exceedingly  social  in 
his  nature.  I  do  not  now  remember  how  I  became 
acquainted  with  him,  or  whether  or  not  I  was  intro- 
duced to  him  at  all.  But  from  the  first  he  attached 
himself  to  me,  and  sought  my  company.  If  I  sat 
down  alone  upon  the  piazza,  he  would  come  and  take 
a  seat  near  me,  and  we  engaged  in  long  conversations. 
I  explained  to  him  in  the  greatest  detail  the  work  in 
which  I  was  engaged,  and  the  operations  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society  at  home  and  abroad.  I  described 
to  him  the  Bible  House  in  New  York,  and  the  proc- 


212  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

ess  of  making  Bibles — commencing  with  the  printing  of 
them  in  the  higher  stories,  and  passing  them  through 
different  hands  from  story  to  story  below,  until  they 
reached  the  depository,  well-bound  and  beautiful  speci- 
mens of  the  art  of  book-making.  I  told  him  of  the 
wealth  and  business  character  of  the  men  who  acted 
as  managers  of  the  society,  and  gratuitously  supervised 
and  controlled  all  its  operations.  Thoroughly  irreligious 
in  all  his  training  and  associations,  my  statements  were 
new  to  him,  and  he  was  greatly  interested  in  them. 
He  thought  the  whole  thing  was  "grand"  and  "mag- 
nificent," and  was  enthusiastic  in  his  commendations 
of  me  and  my  work.  "When  I  was  absent  for  a  day 
or  two  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  people  of  some 
neighborhood  at  a  week  -  day  appointment,  he  was 
among  the  first  to  meet  me  on  my  return  to  the  hotel, 
and  inquired  with  the  greatest  interest  as  to  the  suc- 
cess of  my  labors.  In  our  repeated  interviews  I  talked 
with  him  frankly,  freely,  and  fully,  in  regard  to  his 
own  spiritual  condition,  urged  him  to  make  religion  a 
personal  matter,  yield  his  heart  to  Christ,  and  live 
henceforth  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the -good  of  his 
fellow-men.  The  openness  of  his  nature  and  the  frank- 
ness of  his  expressions  upon  this  subject  were  remark- 
able. His  belief  in  the  Bible  was  implicit.  He  did 
not  seem  to  have  a  shadow  of  doubt  in  regard  to  its 
truth.  He  told  me  that,  from  the  nature  of  his  dis- 
ease, he  was  liable  to  die  at  any  moment,  and  if  he 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      213 

died  he  knew  lie  should  be  lost.  He  did  not  seem  to 
have  a  particle  of  doubt  on  this  subject.  Sometimes, 
in  deep  consciousness  of  the  struggle  within  him,  he 
would  say : 

"  The  trouble  with  me,  sir,  is,  that  I  have  no  sta- 
bility— I  just  go  with  the  crowd  I  am  in.  When  I  am 
with  a  man  like  you,  I  wish  I  was  a  Christian.  I 
would  give  the  world  to  be  a  Christian.  But  when  I 
am  with  "W and  G "  (naming  the  chief  gam- 
blers at  the  hotel)  "and  their  crowd,  I  am  just  carried 
away  with  them.  I  can't  help  myself.  If  I  could  al- 
ways be  in  the  company  of  men  like  you,  I  believe  I 
could  be  a  good  man  and  a  Christian." 

I  prayed  with  him  in  my  room  at  different  times, 
and  gave  him  all  the  instruction  and  encouragement 
in  my  power. 

On  learning  from  me  that  I  was  a  native  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  was  familiar  with  the  free 
States,  he  had  a  great  many  questions  to  ask  in  regard 
to  them.  He  had  never  been  out  of  the  slave  States. 
He  inquired  particularly  in  regard  to  the  schools,  and 
whether  there  were  any  schools  where  colored  boys 
could  be  educated.  I  gave  him  the  name  of  Oberlin 
and  other  schools  that  then  admitted  colored  students. 
He  told  me  that  he  had  been  confined  to  his  bed 
seven  years ;  that  the  greater  part  of  the  thigh-bone 
of  one  of  his  limbs  had  come  out ;  that  his  body-ser- 
vant had  nursed,  washed,  and  taken  care  of  him  like 
10 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 

a  baby  all  this  time ;  and  that  in  reward  for  these  ser- 
vices he  had  offered  to  grant  him  and  his  two  boys 
their  freedom,  and  give  the  boys  a  good  education. 
"  But,"  said  he,  "  I  don't  hire  any  overseer  now.  He 
is  my  overseer,  and  that  makes  him  the  biggest  nigger 
in  T County,  and  he  says  he  'don't  want  no  free- 
dom,' but  he  would  like  to  have  his  boys  sent  to  school. 
Now,  sir,  if  you  will  find  any  school  in  the  North  that 
will  take  them,  I  will  send  them  to  school  just  as  long 
as  there  is  any  use  of  their  going." 

I  afterward  wrote  to  several  institutions  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  sent  their  replies  to  him  at  his  home.  He 
was  very  anxious  to  know  positively  if  he  could  send 
them  to  the  State  of  New  York,  and  said :  "  I  can  not 
send  them  to  Illinois  or  Indiana,  and  I  can  not  under- 
stand how  they  can  be  sent  to  New  York.  They  are 
all  free  States."  I  told  him  that  Illinois  and  Indiana 
had  passed  laws  prohibiting  colored  persons  coming  into 
those '  States,  but  New  York  had  not.  He  then  wanted 
to  know  why  this  was  so,  and  I  told  him  that  one 
reason  was,  that  New  York  was  so  much  farther  from 
the  slave  States,  and  less  likely  to  be  overrun  by  free 
colored  people.  He  at  length  became  satisfied  upon 
this  point,  a  very  important  matter  with  him,  as  the 
sequel  will  show. 

On  one  occasion,  in  explaining  to  him  the  nature 
of  my  Bible-work,  and  the  extent  of  the  territory  com- 
mitted to  my  supervision,  he  interrupted  me  with — 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      215 

"  That  will  include  T County,  my  county.  You 

must  certainly  come  and  see  me  when  you  reach  that 
part  of  the  State,  and  stay  with  me  while  yon  are  in 
that  region." 

I  thanked  him  for  his  invitation,  and  told  him  that 
I  should  be  certain  to  call  on  him.  This  invitation 
was  often  repeated,  and  renewed  with  special  earnest- 
ness when  we  separated.  A  long  time  elapsed  before 
I  visited  all  the  intervening  counties,  organized  or  re- 
organized Bible  societies,  preached  and  "  lifted  collec- 
tions "  in  the  more  important  churches,  ordered  Bibles 
from  New  York,  secured  the  appointment  of  colpor- 
teurs, and  completed  all  the  arrangements  for  a  thor- 
ough canvass  and  supply  of  the  counties.  But  after 

several  months  I  reached  T County  ;  and,  as  my 

friend  resided  some  distance  from  the  county -seat,  I 
completed  all  my  arrangements  for  the  supply  of  the 
county  before  making  him  my  promised  visit.  This 
accomplished,  I  mounted  my  fleet  horse  and  rode  sev- 
eral miles  to  his  residence.  His  welcome  was  as  warm, 
cordial,  and  hearty  as  words  and  acts  could  make  it. 
A  long-absent  brother  could  not  have  been  received 
with  greater  demonstrations  of  joy.  After  I  had  laid 
aside  my  leggins  and  spurs,  washed  myself,  and  a 
troop  of  big  and  little  house-servants,  who  were  rush- 
ing about  eager  to  render  some  service  in  welcoming 
me  to  their  master's  hospitalities,  had  brushed  me  and 
properly  cared  for  all  my  wants,  and  the  commotion 


216  IN  TEE  BRUSH. 

created  by  the  arrival  of  a  stranger  at  a  large  planta- 
tion had  somewhat  subsided,  my  host  said  to  me  : 

"The  blue -grass  in  my  pastures  is  knee-high  to 
your  horse.  Now  just  stay  with  me  a  few  weeks,  and 
let  your  horse  run  there.  The  weather  is  hot;  you 
are  a  hard  worker.  You  need  rest,  and  your  horse 
too.  It  will  do  you  both  good.  Just  stay  with  me, 
and  I  will  kill  my  biggest,  fattest  turkeys,  and  give 
you  the  very  best  that  the  plantation  affords." 

I  thanked  him  for  his  cordial  welcome,  told  him 
that  I  could  not  spare  so  much  time,  but  would  stay 
with  him  as  long  as  I  possibly  could. 

He  then  inquired  after  my  plans  for  the  supply  of 
his  county  with  Bibles.  I  told  him  that  I  had  spent 
the  previous  Sabbath  at  the  county-seat,  and  gave  him 
the  names  of  all  the  men  that  had  been  elected  as 
officers  of  the  County  Bible  Society,  and  of  the  col- 
porteurs that  had  been  chosen  to  canvass  and  supply 
the  county.  He  knew  them  all,  and  approved  the 
choice  that  had  been  made.  I  then  said  : 

"I  have  ordered  a  large  supply  of  Bibles  from 
New  York,  and  I  am  quite  sure  I  can  depend  upon  the 
people  of  the  county  to  meet  the  expenses  of  this  work." 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  thrusting  his  hand  into  his  pocket, 
and  taking  out  and  opening  his  pocket-book,  and  hand- 
ing me  a  bill,  "there  is  twenty  dollars  for  T 

County";  and,  handing  me  another  bill,  "There  is  ten 
dollars  for  the  world." 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      217 

I  was  very  much  gratified  with  his  appropriation  of 
the  money,  as  I  saw  that,  in  my  conversations  with 
him,  I  had  given  him  a  clear  idea  of  the  local  or 
home  work  and  the  general  or  foreign  work  carried 
on  by  the  American  Bible  Society. 

A  bountiful  supper  followed,  and  the  evening  passed 
very  pleasantly  and  rapidly  in  conversation  ;  with  many 
reminiscences  of  our  life  at  the  Springs,  and  the  vari- 
ous persons  we  had  met  there.  At  length  he  ordered 
the  Bible  brought  forward,  and  the  servants  summoned 
for  prayers.  A  large  number,  including  the  house- 
servants,  and  their  husbands  and  children  who  lived  in 
the  kitchen  and  other  adjacent  buildings,  were  soon 
assembled.  The  master  and  myself  were  the  only 
white  persons  in  the  group.  He  sat  near  me  in 
a  large  chair,  thin,  pale,  and  sickly,  his  two  crutches 
lying  across  his  legs,  and  seemed  profoundly  interested 
and  impressed.  "With  a  stillpess  that  was  almost  motion- 
less and  breathless,  and  with  a  fixed,  an  earnest,  an  ex- 
cited attention,  such  as  I  have  never  seen,  only  as  I 
have  seen  it  in  many  similar  groups,  they  all  listened 
while  I  read  to  them  a  portion  of  the  blessed  Word 
of  God — that  Word  that  I  have  found  so  potent  to 
soothe  and  cheer  and  bless  the  most  ignorant  and  the 
most  oppressed  —  and  then  we  all  bowed  together  be- 
fore our  common  Father,  and  in  language  as  simple  as 
I  could  command  I  earnestly  besought  his  blessing  to 
rest  upon  them  all,  and  commended  master  and  slaves 


218  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

to  his  compassionate  care  and  love.  As,  after  the 
lapse  of  so  many  years,  the  long-closed  chambers  of 
memory  open  at  my  bidding,  and,  recalling  this  scene, 
I  for  the  first  time  commit  it  to  pages  that  can  be 
read  by  others,  it  all  stands  revealed  before  me,  so 
vivid,  so  present,  so  unspeakably  tender  and  precious 
in  its  memories,  that  again  and  again  I  have  been  com- 
pelled to  lay  down  my  pen  and  wipe  the  fast-falling 
tears  that  would  flow  as  I  have  lived  over  again  the 
golden,  glorious  hour  thus  spent  in  communing  with 
God  and  comforting  his  enslaved  and  suffering  poor. 
The  same  divine  power  comes  down  upon  me  now, 
while  I  write,  as  when  I  knelt  in  the  midst  of  that 
dark  group,  melting  my  soul  with  a  tenderness  so 
inexpressibly  sweet,  and  irradiating  my  whole  being 
with  a  joy  so  unearthly  that  I  can  but  exclaim  with 
the  poetess: 

"Tell  us  if  the  gleams  of  glory, 
.Bursting  on  us  when  we  pray, 
Are  not  transient,  blest  revealings 
Of  our  home,  so  far  away ; 
Loving  glances  of  our  Father, 
Sent  to  lure  our  souls  away." 

A  delightful  night's  rest  was  followed  by  a  most 
beautiful  day.  A  morning  stroll  revealed  to  me  the 
character  and  extent  of  my  host's  plantation.  His 
n-sidcnce  was  a  large  brick  house,  standing  in  the 
midst  of  a  grove  of  forest-trees,  and  presented  a  most 


STSAXGE  PEOPLE  IX  THE  SO  mi  WEST. 

neglected,  not  to  say  dilapidated,  appeanuuv.  A  great. 
many  panes  of  glass  had  been  broken  from  the 
windows ;  the  doors  were  out  of  order ;  it  had  been 
unpaiuted  for  many  years  ;  the  fences,  out-buildings, 
and  everything  about  it  had  a  "tumble-down"  look, 
and  all  presented  about  as  "shiftless"  an  appearance 
as  ever  distressed  the  soul  of  a  neat  and  thrifty  Miss 
Ophelia.  If  my  memory  is  not  at  fault,  the  plantation 
contained  one  thousand  acres.  It  was  as  rich,  produc- 
tive, and  beautiful  land  as  I  have  ever  seen.  It  lay 
in  the  heart  of  one  of  the  finest  tobacco-growing  re- 
gions in  the  United  States.  The  stock,  most  of  which 
was  "blooded,"  and  of  the  finest  quality,  presented 
noble  subjects  for  the  pencil  of  a  Rosa  Bonheur,  as 
they  were  feeding  in  his  large  pastures,  where  the 
blue  grass  was  up  to  my  horse's  knees.  .  The  build- 
ings I  have  already  described  sadly  marred  a  landscape 
of  exceeding  beauty.  This  was  the  paternal  estate. 
He  had  lived  with  his  parents  until  their  death,  and, 
being  the  youngest  son  and  an  invalid,  they  had  given 
him  the 'homestead,  providing  liberally  for  the.  other 
members  of  the  family,  who  lived  in  adjoining  coun- 
ties and  were  very  wealthy.  The  place  was  culti- 
vated by  his  own  slaves,  who,  including  old  and  young, 
I  think  must  have  numbered  nearly  or  quite  a  hun- 
dred. 

Shall  I  describe  the  household? 

My  host  was  unmarried.     I  do  not  know  his  age. 


220  IK  THE  BRUSH. 

I  remember  that  his  hair  was  so  much  frosted  that  it 
was  decidedly  iron-gray;  but  I  am  sure  that  it  must 
have  been  prematurely  so,  on  account  of  the  great  suf- 
fering he  had  endured.  His  housekeeper  was  a  large, 
fat,  gross-looking  negro  woman,  one  of  his  own  slaves. 
But  she  was  more  than  his  housekeeper — she  was  the 
mother  of  his  children.  Here  was  one  of  those  strange, 
unaccountable,  revolting  alliances — far  more  common 
than  the  great  world  has  ever  dreamed — that  set  at 
defiance  the  laws  of  God  not  only,  but  all  other  laws 
—where  the  one  least  attractive  of  all  upon  the  plan- 
tation becomes  the  master's  unholy  choice.  It  hardly 
required  the  second  look  to  detect  among  the  groups 
of  colored  children  that  were  playing  about  the  yard 
four  who  bore  to  their  father  the  double  relation  of 
children  and  slaves.  The  two  eldest  were  girls,  prob- 
ably six  and  eight  years  old,  and  they  had  his  light 
gray  eyes,  his  double  chin,  and,  indeed,  all  his  feat- 
ures much  more  strongly  marked  than  is  usual  where 
both  the  parents  are  either  white  or  black.  In  their 
color,  his  white  blood  preponderated  very  largely  over 
that  of  the  mother ;  their  hair  indicated  their  African 
parentage  much  more  positively  than  their  skin.  The 
two  boys  were  much  darker  than  their  sisters,  and  the 
features  of  their  father  were  less  strongly  though  in- 
disputably marked.  The  youngest  was  a  handsome 
little  fellow  not  more  than  three  or  four  years  old. 
Here,  then,  to  any  one  who  had  seen  but  a  tithe 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      221 

of  what  had  fallen  under  my  observation  in  years  of 
horseback-riding  where  I  had  been  in  constant  com- 
munication with  masters  and  slaves,  was  the  full  ex- 
planation of  the  intense  interest  and  anxiety  of  my 
host  in  regard  to  the  schools  and  laws  in  the  free 
States.  Here  was  a  mind  agitated  with  the  most  ter- 
rible conflicts,  the  most  excruciating  anxieties,  that  ever 
raged  in  the  human  heart.  Here  were  the  pangs  of  a 
guilty  conscience  in  regard  to  the  past;  and  all  the  in- 
stincts of  a  father  moved  to  their  profoundest  depths 
in  behalf  of  his  children,  who  were  legal  slaves.  He 
knew,  even  better  than  I  did,  the  unutterably  terrible 
future  that  awaited  them  as  slaves.  He  knew  not 
only  the  possibilities  but  the  probabilities  in  regard  to 
the  fate  of  his  daughters,  which  the  laws  and  the 
customs  of  society  rendered  doubly  sure.  It  was  to  a 
mind  thus  agitated  and  distressed  that  I  had  brought 
the  sweet  message,  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleans- 
eth  from  all  sin."  It  was  to  a  spirit  thus  moved  that  I 
unfolded  the  fullness  and  the  freeness  of  the  forgive- 
ness and  salvation  purchased  by  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  the  "Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sins  of  the  world."  It  was  to  one  thus  involved  and 
entangled  in  the  meshes  of  sin  that  I  spoke  of  a  De- 
liverer from  its  thralldom  and  power.  O  wondrous 
message  !  Often  as  I  have  looked  into  the  faces  of 
the  vilest  of  the  vile,  I  have  been  thrilled  and  star- 
tled at  the  sound  of  my  own  voice  as  I  have  pro- 


222  AV  THE  BRUSH. 

claimed  to  them :  "  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet, 
they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow;  though  they  be  red 
like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool." 

No  wonder  that  he  listened  intently,  and  that  his 
eyes  often  filled  with  tears,  as  I  sat  long  at  his  bed- 
side, where  he  was  compelled  to  lie  the  greater  part  of 
the  time,  endeavoring  to  instruct  him  and  lead  him  to 
Christ.  If  I  were  to  repeat  all  the  strange  questions 
that  he  asked  and  that  I  answered — questions  the  like 
of  which  I  never  heard  of  being  propounded  to  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  before — they  would  be  far  more 
strange  and  startling  to  my  readers  than  anything  I 
have  written.  No  wonder  that  he  esteemed  and  loved 
me  as  he  did !  Probably  no  clergyman  had  ever  treat- 
ed him  with  that  consideration  or  instructed  him  with 
that  care  and  earnestness  that  I  had. 

Possibly  if  I  had  known  as  much  of  his  character 
as  I  afterward  learned,  I  should  have  been  less  -en- 
thusiastic and  hopeful  in  my  efforts  to  instruct  him 
and  lead  him  to  Christ.  But  it  has  been  one  of  the 
incidents  of  my  long  wanderings  and  extended  inter- 
course with  strangers,  that  I  have  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  negro-traders,  slave-hunters,  gamblers,  and  other 
like  characters,  enjoyed  their  hospitality,  prayed  with 
and  for  them  and  their  families,  and  given  kind  and 
hopeful  words  of  instruction,  where  those  who  knew 
these  people  best  had  little  heart  or  hope  to  put  forth 
such  efforts  in  their  behalf.  At  times  I  have  been 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      223 

permitted  and  rejoiced  to  learn  that  such  labors  have 
been  attended  with  the  happiest  results. 

When  I  asked  the  officers  of  the  Bible  Society  the 
way  to  the  residence  of  my  friend,  and  told  them  of 
my  promise  to  make  him  a  visit,  the  strange,  blank 
expression  upon  their  faces  told  me  plainly  that  his 
home  was  not  a  resort  for  clergymen.  Their  silence 
on  the  subject  was  far  more  expressive  than  the  few 
ejaculations  of  surprise  that  were  uttered.  No  wonder 
that  he  took  such  strange  ways  of  manifesting  his  af- 
fection and  regard.  Once  he  called  a  servant  and  gave 
directions  to  have  two  white  shoats  thoroughly  washed 
in  soapsuds,  and  driven  up  to  the  front  door  for  me 
to  look  at.  He  told  me  he  had  sent  to  Marshall  P. 
Wilder,  near  Boston,  Massachusetts,  for  a  pair  of  white 
pigs  and  a  pair  of  chickens,  which  with  the  freight 
had  cost  him  a  large  sum,  which  he  named,  but  which 
I  have  forgotten.  He  was  anxious  to  gratify  me  by. 
seeing  them  in  the  best  possible  condition.  Indeed,  he 
seemed  never  to  forget  that  I  was  his  guest,  and  he 
was  constantly  striving  to  do  all  in  his  power  for 
my  entertainment,  and  to  render  my  stay  with  him  as 
pleasant  and  protracted  as  possible.  Yery  often  he 
would  repeat  what  he  said  to  me  so  frequently  at  the 
Springs : 

"  If  I  could  only  have  none  but  good  people  for 
associates,  I  believe  I  could  be  a  good  man.  But  1 
haven't  got  a  bit  of  stability.  I  am  just  carried  away 


224  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

by  the  crowd  I  am  with.  If  I  could  only  have  you 
here,  I  believe  I  could  be  a  Christian.  If  you  will  only 
stay  here  and  preach  for  us,  I  will  give  the  ground  for 
a  church  and  help  build  it,  and  I  will  bind  my  estate 
for  a  part  of  your  salary  after  I  am  dead  and  gone, 
as  long  as  you  will  stay.  The  trouble  is  now,  if  we 
do  go  to  church,  any  one  else  there  might  just  as  well 
get  up  and  preach  as  the  man  that  does  preach.* 
You  are  an  educated  man,  and  I  believe  you  are  a 
good  man  ;  and  then  you  are  a  gentleman.  If  they 
would  only  send  such  preachers  into  this  country,  I  tell 
you  they  would  take  the  crowd.  My  mother  was  a 
Baptist,  and  I  believe  she  was  a  good  woman,  and  if 
I  was  fit  to  belong  to  any  church,  I  should  like  to  join 
the  Baptist  Church  on  her  account.  But  I  don't  care 
very  much  about  that.  You  are  a  Presbyterian,  and 
if  you  will  only  come  and  start  a  Presbyterian  church, 
I  will  do  everything  for  you  that  I  say." 

"When  the  hour  for  dinner  arrived,  we  two  alone 
sat  down  to  a  table  that  fully  redeemed  the  promise 
of  the  night  before.  "We  had  as  nice  a  turkey  as  ever 
tempted  the  appetite,  and  a  superabundance  of  other 
dishes,  "  the  best  that  the  plantation  afforded." 

As  I  could  only  make  a  brief  stay  with  my  friend, 
I  was  anxious  to  leave  something  with  him  that  would, 

*  This  was,  alas !  too  true — and  true  of  a  very  large  portion  of  coun- 
try that  I  have  visited,  where  the  great  majority  of  the  preachers  were 
uneducated. 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      225 

if  possible,  deepen  his  religious  impressions,  and  give 
him  the  instruction  that  he  so  much  needed,  after  I 
had  gone.  Sitting  at  his  bedside,  I  gave  him  .Rev. 
Newman  Hall's  "  Come  to  Jesus " — a  few  copies  of 
which  I  usually  earned  in  my  saddle-bags.  I  expressed 
to  him  my  very  high  appreciation  of  the  little  work, 
and,  in  order  so  to  enlist  his  interest  in  it  that  he  would 
not  fail  to  read  it  after  I  had  left  him,  I  told  him 
how  very  highly  it  was  esteemed  by  the  late  General 
John  H.  Cocke,  of  Virginia,  whom  I  had  known  some 
years  before,  while  superintendent  of  the  colporteur 
operations  of  the  American  Tract  Society  in  that  State. 
My  host  was  of  an  old  Virginia  horse-racing,  sporting 
family,  and  his  pride  in  the  old  State  insured  his  at- 
tention to  anything  I  would  say  in  regard  to  so  dis- 
tinguished a  Virginian.  So  I  proceeded  : 

"  The  General  had  a  magnificent  estate  in  Fluvanna 
County,  Virginia — was  President  of  the  American  Tem- 
perance Union,  was  prominently  identified  with  many 
of  our  national  benevolent  institutions,  and  was  withal 
very  fond  of  doing  good  in  a  genial,  quiet  way.  On 
one  of  his  visits  to  Richmond,  Miss  Jennie  Taylor, 
daughter  of  his  old  friend  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor,  of  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary  in  Prince  Edward  Coun- 
ty, had  recently  been  married  ;  and,  while  attending  to 
his  business,  he  ran  into  the  store  of  her  husband  to 
congratulate  him.  The  bride  was  a  great  favorite  with 
him,  as  she  was  with  a  very  large  circle  of  the  best 


226  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

people  in  the  State,  who  loved  her  for  her  own  and 
her  honored  father's  sake.  As  the  General  was  about 
to  leave,  he  said  : 

" '  I  wish  to  make  you  and  your  bride  a  very  valu- 
able present,'  and  handed  him  a  tract  of  four  pages. 

" '  Thank  you,'  said  he,  and  immediately  took  from 
his  desk  a  copy  of  'Come  to  Jesus'  and  said,  'Please 
accept  that  in  return,  General,  and  don't  fail  to  read 
it.' 

"  But  a  few  days  after  this  the  General  was  in  the 
city,  and  called  again  at  the  store,  and  said : 

"'Where  can  I  get  copies  of  that  little  volume, 
"  Come  to  Jesus "  ?  I  am  delighted  with  it,  and  must 
have  a  quantity  for  distribution.' 

'"I  order  them  by  the  hundred  copies  from  the 
Tract  Society  in  New  York,'  was  the  response,  'and 
always  keep  a  supply  on  hand  to  give  away  as  I  have 
opportunity.' 

"  The  General  soon  procured  a  supply,  and  he  had 
so  many  proofs  of  their  great  usefulness- — so  many  of 
those  to  whom  he  gave  them  expressed  their  grati- 
tude, and  testified  to  the  great  benefit  they  had  re- 
ceived from  their  perusal — that  he  ordered  them  again 
and  again,  and  scattered  hundreds  of  them  over  the 
country." 

"  How  can  I  get  a  lot  of  them  ? "  said  my  host, 
quite  fired  with  the  missionary  spirit  by  this  recital. 
I  told  him  that  I  knew  of  no  nearer  place  than  the 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      227 

depository  of  the  American  Tract  Society  at  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio,  which  was  several  hundred  miles  distant. 
He  would  not  rest  until  I  had  written  out  for  him  the 
address  of  Seely  Wood,  the  depositary,  and  given  him 
full  instructions  how  to  order  them.  On  my  next  an- 
nual visit  to  the  county  I  found  several  copies  of 
"Come  to  Jesus"  in  the  family  of  a  Presbyterian 
elder,  living  near  the  county-seat,  and,  inquiring  of 
him  how  he  obtained  them,  he  said : 

"I  found  a  package  of  them  addressed  to  me  at 
the  post-office,  and  the  postmaster  said  they  had  been 

left  there  by  Mr. "  (my  host),  "  and  that  he  left 

several  other  packages  there  addressed  to  Rev.  Mr. 

,  principal  of  the  seminary,  and  the  officers  of  the 

different  churches." 

The  matter  was  an  inexplicable  mystery  to  him, 
and  to  all  that  received  those  packages.  They  knew 
him  well,  and  afterward  described  his  character  to  me 
as  far  different  from  that  which  usually  pertains  to  a 
tract-distributor.  They  told  me  that  he  was  a  very 
cruel  master,  and  that  it  was  the  general  belief  that 
he  had  shot  and  secretly  paid  the  owner  his  price  for 
a  negro  because  he  thought  him  too  intimate  with  his 
housekeeper. 

At  night  I  preached  in  a  small  schoolhouse,  near 
his  residence,  to  about  a  dozen  persons  who  had  assem- 
bled in  response  to  the  ringing  of  a  small  bell  late  in 
the  afternoon  and  at  the  hour  of  assembling,  the  sig- 


228  I&  THE  BRUSH. 

nal  in  all  that  region  for  preaching  by  a  stranger,  as 
I  have  elsewhere  described. 

Perhaps  I  should  say  that  as  a  matter  of  form  I 
asked  my  host,  soon  after  my  arrival,  if  he  had  re- 
ceived the  letters  I  had  forwarded  to  him,  and  sent 
his  overseer's  boys  to  school  as  he  had  proposed.  He 
said  he  had  received  the  letters,  but  gave  some  excuse 
or  reason  for  not  having  sent  them  as  yet.  He  or- 
dered them  dressed  and  called  into  the  parlor  for  my 
inspection,  that  I  might  judge  of  their  capacity  for  an 
education.  This  I  afterward  learned  caused  a  great 
commotion  in  the  "  negro  quarters,"  as  they  all  thought 
I  must  be  a  "  nigger -trader,"  and  this  examination  was 
in  reference  to  the  price  I  would  pay  for  them. 

As  my  duties  were  very  pressing,  I  spent  but  two 
nights  with  my  host,  and  left  him  the  next  morning, 
with  many  thanks  for  his  hospitality,  and  with  earnest 
expressions  of  regret  on  his  part — never  to  see  him 
again. 

A  few  months  later  I  read  a  notice  of  his  death 
in  the  papers,  accompanied  with  this  statement: 

"He  has  left  a  very  large  estate.  By  his  will  he 
has  freed  a  part  of  his  slaves,  and  given  his  plantation 
and  nearly  all  his  property,  including  his  slaves,  to  those 
he  has  freed." 

On  my  next  visit  to  the  county  seat,  I  hitched  my 
horse  to  a  post,  and  before  entering  any  other  house 
went  directly  to  the  county  clerk's  office  and  asked  him 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      229 

if  he  would  do  me  the  favor  to  allow  me  to  read  Mr. 

's  will.  He  at  once  produced  the  volume  in  which 

it  was  recorded,  and  I  was  about  to  read  it,  when  he 
said : 

"  I  have  the  original  will  here,  if  you  would  prefer 
to  see  that." 

I  thanked  him,  and  he  handed  it  to  me.  It  was  in 
his  own  handwriting.  The  spelling  was  very  bad ;  as, 
for  instance,  I  remember  that  "be"  was  spelt  "bea," 
and  a  good  many  other  words  were  as  badly  spelled. 
I  have  often  been  similarly  astonished  to  find  that  men 
who  had  a  great  deal  of  general  intelligence,  and  were 
most  interesting  talkers,  were  unable  to  spell  the  sim- 
plest sentence  correctly.  But  the  clerk  told  me  that 
he  recorded  the  will  exactly  as  it  was  written,  and 
that  bad  spelling  did  not  vitiate  any  legal  document. 
The  will  was  very  brief,  and  I  remember  its  principal 
provisions  as  follows: 

"I  give  and  bequeath  to  "  (the  mother  of  his 

children)  "her  liberty  from  the  hour  of  my  death." 

"I  give  and  bequeath  to  her  children"  (here  fol- 
lowed the  names  of  her  five  children)  "their  liberty 
from  the  hour  of  my  death."  * 

"I  give  to "  (another  woman)  "her  liberty 

from  the  hour  of  my  death." 

"I  give  to  my  brother  my  fiddle." 

"  I  give  to  my  brother  -     -  my  kitchen  furniture." 

These    brothers,   when    visiting  him,   had    in    joke 


230  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

asked  him  to  make  these  legacies,  saying  that  was  all 
they  wanted  of  his  property,  and  lie  had  in  earnest 
told  them  he  would  give  them  what  they  asked.  He 
also  gave  a  little  niece,  the  daughter  of  a  sister,  a  valu- 
able gold  watch  and  chain,  which  he  had  promised 
her.  He  then  gave  a  very  small  legacy — I  think  only 
three  hundred  dollars — to  the  mother  of  his  children. 
Of  her  five  children,  only  four  were  his.  To  these 
he  gave  all  the  remainder  of  his  property,  including 
plantation,  blooded  stock,  slaves,  money,  etc.,  and  di- 
rected that  "  they  be  sent  to  the  State  of  New  York," 
and  placed  in  the  best  schools  and  thoroughly  edu- 
cated.* 

Some  ten  days  subsequent  to  the  date  of  his  will 
he  had  added  a  codicil.  In  this  he  gave  the  name  and 
date  of  birth  of  each  of  the  four  children,  in  the  order 
of  their  birth,  and  added,  "  These  are  my  own  chil- 
dren," and  something  like  an  appeal  that  they  might 
be  permitted  to  receive  what  he  had  left  for  them,  and 
a  hope  that  they  might  enjoy  all  that  wealth  and  edu- 
cation could  procure  for  them. 

But  the  saddest,  strangest  thing  about  the  will  was 
its  exceeding  cruelty  to  the  rest  of  his  slaves.  lie  di- 
rected that  they  all  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  his  chil- 
dren that  he  had  freed ;  and,  that  they  might  bring 

*  At  the  time  of  his  death  this  property  would  have  sold  for  nearly  or 
quite  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars.  The  plantation  alone  was  sold  under 
the  hammer  for  ninety-five  thousand  dollars. 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      231 

the  greatest  possible  price,  lie  ordered  that  they  all  "be 
sent  to  New  Orleans  and  sold  upon  the  block  at  auc- 
tion— not  in  families,  but  each  one  alone.  His  will  di- 
rected his  executor  to  advertise  the  "sale"  for  three 
months  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  Southwest  and 
South,  so  as  to  secure  as  large  an  attendance  as  possi- 
ble of  negro-traders  and  planters  wishing  to  buy  slaves. 
This  horrified  even  his  pro-slavery  neighbors;  for,  had 
they  been  sold  at  home,  many  of  them  would  have  been 
bought  by  those  who  owned  husbands  and  wives  that 
were  intermarried,  or  had  "  taken  up "  with  them,  and 
others  would  have  been  bought  in  the  region,  so  that 
fewer  families  would  have  been  separated.  His  own 
relatives,  who  would  otherwise  have  inherited  this  large 
estate,  were  very  wealthy,  and  he  knew  that  they  would 
spare  no  money  in  contesting  his  will.  Hence  he  took 
precautions  such  as  ,1  have  never  heard  of  before  to 
prevent  its  being  broken.  After  he  had  got  it  written 
to  suit  himself — and  I  was  told  that  he  said  he  was 
inspired  to  write  it — he  made  a  large  dinner-party, 
and  among  others  invited  the  prominent  physicians  of 
the  neighborhood.  After  the  usual  pleasures  and  ex- 
citements of  such  a  party,  as  his  guests  were  about 
leaving,  he  called  the  physicians  to  his  room,  and 
said : 

"  Gentlemen,  you  all  know  me  well,  and  I  wish  to 
know  if,  from  all  that  you  have  seen  to-day,  you  think 
that  I  am  competent  to  make  my  will  ? " 


232  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

They  all  answered  him  in  the  affirmative,.  He  then 
said,  "I  wish  to  know  if  this  is  your  professional 
opinion,  and  that  if  called  upon  you  will  make  oath 
to  it?" 

They  again  gave  an  affirmative  response.  He  then 
took  his  will  from  his  pocket,  and  said : 

"  Gentlemen,  here  is  my  will,  written  by  myself, 
exactly  as  I  want  to  dispose  of  my  property,  and  I  wish 
to  sign  it  in  your  presence,  and  have  you  sign  it  as 
witnesses,"  which  was  done.  Notwithstanding  these  pre- 
cautions, I  heard  of  the  will  as  before  the  court,  of  the 
disagreement  of  the  jury,  and  of  the  inability  of  the  con- 
testants to  either  establish  or  break  it.  I  suppose  the 
emancipation  proclamation  freed  all  the  slaves  before 
the  case  was  settled  by  the  courts.  Fortunately  for  his 
children,  I  was  told  that  he  became  so  alarmed  about 
them  before  he  died,  that  he  sent  them  to  Ohio,  and  de- 
posited money  there  for  their  support.  Otherwise  they 
would  have  remained  slaves  during  the  controversy  in 
regard  to  the  will.  I  have  inquired  after  these  children 
at  Oberlin,  at  Xenia,  and  in  many  of  the  towns  and  cities 
of  Ohio,  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  hear  of  them. 
I  do  not  know  whether  or  not  they  ever  received  the 
rest  of  the  large  estate  which  properly  belonged  to 
them. 

I  have  written  out  these  facts  in  all  this  detail,  think- 
ing that  they  would  answer  in  part  the  query  whether 
"  anything  strange  or  interesting  did  ever  happen  to  a 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      233 

missionary,"  and  also  to  reveal  a  type  of  character  and 
civilization  with  which  I  have  very  often  been  brought 
in  contact.  I  knew  a  free  colored  woman,  and  she  was 
at  the  time  a  very  liberal  contributor  to  the  American 
Bible  Society,  who  told  me  that  her  own  daughter  had 
been  educated  at  a  fashionable  school  by  her  white 
father,  and  was  the  wife  of  an  officer  in  the  United 
States  Army.  She  visited  her  daughter  frequently  near 
one  of  the  largest  Northern  cities,  not  as  her  mother,  but 
as  her  old  nurse  or  "  mammy."  Her  husband  supposed 
that  her  own  brunette  mother  had  died  in  her  infancy, 
and  that  she  had  been  "  raised "  by  this  "  mammy,"  as 
such  nurses  were  called,  and  hence  their  great  affection 
for  each  other. 

Within  a  few  miles  of  the  home  of  my  host,  in  an 
adjoining  county,  I  knew  two  colored  girls  whose  mother 
was  "  as  black  as  the  hinges  of  midnight,"  whose  white 
father  and  master  had  left  them  and  a  legacy  for  them 
in  the  care  of  a  sister,  to  whom  he  had  willed  a  large 
number  of  slaves;  and  those  two  girls  were  trained  to 
call  their  mother  "  Margaret,"  and  always  to  treat  her 
as  their  "  mammy."  This  was  in  anticipation  of  their 
going  North  to  a  fashionable  boarding-school,  and  that 
their  mother  might  gratify  her  maternal  instincts  by 
accompanying  them  or  visiting  them  without  detriment 
to  their  social  standing  or  prospects.  It  was  well  known 
in  the  Southwest  and  South  for  many  years  before  the 
war  that,  notwithstanding  the  intense  prejudice  on  ac- 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 

count  of  color  so  universal  in  the  North,  many  of  tho 
most  expensive  and  fashionable  boarding-schools  re- 
ceived pupils  from  Cuba,  South  America,  and  other 
tropical  countries,  even  if  their  skins  were  decidedly 
dark.  As  colored  children  were  so  rigidly  excluded  from 
nearly  all  the  best  schools  in  the  country,  many  availed 
themselves  of  the  exception  thus  made  in  behalf  of 
those  of  foreign  birth  by  placing  pupils  in  these  schools 
whose  tropical  lineage  was  only  "  asserted "  by  those 
who  paid  their  bills.  A  few  Northern  schools,  as'is  well 
known,  have  always  received  colored  pupils.  Bishop 
Payne,  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
President  of  Wilberforce  University,  Xenia,  Ohio,  told 
me  during  the  war  that  before  the  war  most  of  his 
students  were  those  who  had  been  born  slaves  and  were 
educated  by  their  white  fathers.  The  stories  that  they 
have  communicated  to  him  of  the  sufferings  they  have 
endured  as  they  have  thought  of  the  life  to  which  their 
children  were  exposed  if  left  in  slavery — and  as  they 
have  traveled  with  them  up  the  river,  and  been  com- 
pelled to  witness  the  indignities  to  which  they  were 
exposed,  as  they  were  obliged  to  leave  them  on  deck 
with  the  rough  crowds  of  passengers,  liable  at  all  times 
to  the  basest  insults,  while  they,  as  they  valued  their 
lives,  dared  not  offer  them  a  father's  protection — would 
alone  make  a  volume  of  painfully  thrilling  interest. 
Alas,  that  there  were  many  thousands  of  such  parents 
whose  natures  were  so  blunted  that  they  cared  as 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      235 

little  for  their   offspring  as   the   dumb    beasts    around 
them ! 

But  I  have  said  all  and  more  than  I  had  intended, 
though  very  far  from  all  that  I  could  say  upon  this  sub- 
ject, and  will  betake  myself  to  more  pleasant  and  con- 
genial narrations  of  my  labors  in  the  Brush. 


SUPPLEMENTARY   FACTS. 

IN  writing  the  foregoing  chapter,  I,  of  deliberate 
purpose,  suppressed  the  name  and  place  of  residence 
of  the  person  whose  remarkable  history  I  have  given 
in  so  much  detail.  I  wished  to  make  the  case  less 
personal  than  representative  of  a  state  of  society  now 
happily  passed  away.  I  gave  the  facts  as  far  as  I  had 
received  them. 

But,  since  reaching  New  York,  and  while  reading 
the  proof-sheets  of  this  volume,  I  have  received  addi- 
tional facts  from  the  highest  authority ;  and,  as  the  case 
has  become  so  celebrated,  there  is  now  no  reason  why 
I  should  withhold  any  of  them. 

In  the  year  1859,  one  year  after  my  election  to 
the  presidency  of  Cumberland  College,  I  one  day 
made  a  very  long  horseback-ride  in  order  to  reach 
the  residence  and  spend  the  night  with  the  Hon. 
Francis  M.  Bristow,  at  Elkton,  Todd  County,  Kentucky. 
Mr.  Bristow  was  at  the  time  serving  his  second  term 
as  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  third  district.  I 


236  /Ar  THE  BRUSH. 

was  anxious  to  see  him,  from  the  fact  that,  in  accord- 
ance with  instructions  from  the  maker  of  the  above- 
named  will,  the  executor  had  employed  him  and  his 
son,  a  young  lawyer  who  had  recently  opened  an  office 
in  Hopkinsville,  Kentucky,  to  defend  the  will  in  a  suit 
that  had  already  been  instituted  in  the  Circuit  Court. 
I  did  not  find  the  distinguished  Congressman  at  home, 
but  was  so  fortunate  as  to  meet  and  spend  the  night 
with  his  son. 

I  have  called  several  times,  since  reaching  the  city, 
upon  the  "  junior  counsel  for  the  will,"  now  the  Hon. 
Benjamin  II.  Bristow,  late  Secretary  of  the  United  States 
Treasury,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  maker  of  the  will  was  Mr.  Lycurgus  B.  Leav- 
ell,  of  Trenton,  Todd  County,  Kentucky.  General 
Bristow  informs  me  that  the  case  was  tried  before 
Hon.  Thomas  E.  Dabney,  at  a  term  of  the  Circuit 
Court,  held  at  Elkton,  Kentucky.  The  senior  counsel 
for  the  will  was  lion.  Francis  M.  Bristow;  the  junior 
counsel,  Benjamin  H.  Bristow  and  H.  G.  Petrie. 
The  senior  counsel  for  the  contestants  was  the  Hon. 
Gustavus  Henry,  the  "  eagle  orator "  of  Tennessee ; 
the  junior  counsel  was  James  E.  Bailey,  late  United 
States  Senator  for  Tennessee.  As  the  case  was  so 
very  important,  the  jury  was  selected  from  the  most 
prominent  and  honorable  slaveholders  in  the  county. 
Young  Bristow  and  Bailey  opened  the  case.  It  was 
ably  contested,  and  of  most  extraordinary  interest,  but 


STRANGE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.      237 

this  is  not   the   place    to    describe   it.     The  jury  were 
eleven  for  and  one  against  sustaining  the  will. 

The  war  soon  came  on ;  the  slaves,  including  several 
who  had  recently  been  imported  from  Africa  in  the 
Wanderer,  were  freed  by  the  emancipation  proclama- 
tion ;  the  contest  was  withdrawn,  and  the  will  estab- 
lished. The  executor  and  his  bondsmen  were  finan- 
cially ruined  by  the  war,  and  only  a  small  part  of  the 
estate,  some  forty  thousand  dollars,  reached  the  two 
surviving  children  to  whom  it  was  devised.  One  of 
them,  a  young  lady,  has  recently  graduated  with  dis- 
tinguished honor,  and  the  president  and  professors  of 
the  college  speak  of  her  in  terms  of  the  very  highest 
praise. 

11 


CHAPTER  XIY. 

OLD-TIME   ILLITERATE   PREACHERS   LY   THE   BRUSH. 

I  HAVE  very  often  thought  that  the  best  work  that 
could  possibly  be  prepared  in  favor  of  an  educated 
ministry,  would  be  to  send  stenographers  through  those 
States  where  the  census  reveals  the  greatest  amount  of 
ignorance,  to  make  'verbatim  reports  of  sermons  that 
are  actually  preached,  and  publish  them  in  a  volume. 
Such  a  book  would  be  the  most  remarkable  exhibition 
of  ignorance  ever  printed.  Any  one  who  has  not  trav- 
eled extensively  will  be  astonished  to  learn  of  the  great 
number  of  altogether  unlearned  and  ignorant  preachers 
who  minister  regularly  to  large  congregations.  I  have 
found  that  the  deeper  I  got  into  the  Brush,  and  the 
denser  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  the  greater  was 
the  number  of  preachers.  I  have  seen  a  surprisingly 
large  number  of  people  who  knew  very  little  of  the 
world,  and  a  great  deal  less  of  books,  to  whom  the 
honors  of  a  preacher  were  very  attractive.  I  say 
"honors,"  for  the  emoluments  were  so  small  that  they 
had  very  little  weight  in  the  matter.  I  have  known 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          239 

them  to  urge  their  own  claims,  and  "  electioneer "  with 
others  for  years,  and  with  the  greatest  pertinacity,  in 
order  to  secure  licensure  and  ordination.  Some  of 
them  could  not  read  at  all,  and  many  could  read  a 
verse  or  chapter  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  and 
miscalled  a  large  number  of  the  longer  words. 

I  penetrated  a  wild  region  among  the  hills,  and  my 
own  observations  and  the  explorations  that  I  caused  to 
be  made  secured  for  it  the  undoubted  and  undesirable 
preeminence  of  being  the  banner  county  for  ignorance 
and  destitution  of  the  Bible  of  all  those  that  I  visited. 
In  some  manner  that  I  do  not  now  remember,  on  my 
first  visit  I  was  directed  to  call  upon  one  of  the  preach- 
ers of  the  county,  who  would  cooperate  with  me  in 
making  arrangements  to  have  it  canvassed  and  sup- 
plied with  the  Bible.  I  found  his  house  among  the 
hills  in  the  midst  of  a  vast,  dense  forest,  surrounded 
by  a  small  clearing  or  "  dead'ning,"  which  was  planted 
with  corn  and  tobacco.  He  was  rather  a  short,  thick- 
set man,  with  a  powerful,  muscular  frame,  and  very 
quick  and  active  in  his  movements.  On  riding  up  and 
introducing  myself,  he  gave  me  a  very  cordial  wel- 
come to  his  home.  It  was  a  log-house,  rather  larger 
and  higher  than  was  usual  in  the  region  ;  but  it  was 
without  chambers,  and  from  floor  to  roof  all  was  a  single 
room.  His  family,  including  wife,  mother-in-law,  and 
children,  numbered  an  even  dozen.  I  spent  the  night 
with  them,  partaking  of  such  food,  using  such  knife, 


240  IX  THE  BRUSH. 

fork,  and  dishes,  and  occupying,  with  others,  such  a  bed 
as  I  can  not  well  describe,  and  I  am  sure  my  readers 
will  not  be  able  to  imagine.  But  I  had  by  this  time 
become  so  accustomed  to  this  kind  of  life  in  the  Brush, 
that,  if  not  pleasant  and  agreeable  to  me,  it  was  at  least 
not  strange.  I^ot  long  before,  in  a  similarly  wild  re- 
gion, in  an  adjoining  county,  I  had  slept  in  a  much 
smaller  cabin  with  one  room,  where  the  man  and  his 
wife  and  mother-in-law  and  four  children,  with  an- 
other visitor  besides  myself,  occupied  three  beds.  I 
shared  one  of  them,  upon  a  very  narrow  bedstead,  with 
the  visitor,  a  neighbor  who  had  called  in  for  a  social 
visit,  as  rough  and  tough-looking  a  long-haired  back- 
woodsman as  one  often  meets,  dressed  in  butternut; 
and  a  "chunk  of  a  boy,"  as  his  father  called  him, 
about  a  dozen  years  old,  who  was  placed  in  the  bed 
between  us,  with  his  head  at  our  feet,  and  ex  necessi- 
tate his  feet  not  far  from  my  head.  It  is  a  kind  of 
lodging  that  can  be  endured  for  a  night,  as  I  know 
from  positive  experience.  But  I  am  not  prepared  to 
recommend  it. 

When  I  arrived  at  this  house,  which  was  about 
dinner-time,  I  found  the  children  parching  corn  in  a 
spider.  The  father  was  absent,  and  it  was  necessary 
for  me  to  remain  until  he  returned.  The  mother  made 
no  movements  toward  getting  dinner,  and  said  nothing 
about  it,  which  was  a  very  unusual  thing  in  my  expe- 
rience. At  length  the  children  brought  to  me  some  of 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          241 

the  corn,  which  was  parched  brown,  but  not  popped. 
I  had  by  this  time  become  satisfied  that  this  was  to 
be  their  only  dinner,  and  ate  some  of  it  with  them. 
The  father  returned  in  a  few  hours,  and  urged  me  to 
spend  the  night  with  them,  which  in  the  circumstances 
I  was  glad  to  do  ;  I  could  easily  have  gone  farther 
and  fared  worse.  lie  soon  took  a  bag  and  went  through 
the  woods  a  mile  or  two  to  a  neighbor's,  and  returned 
with  some  corn-meal  and  a  piece  of  bacon.  The  en- 
tirely empty  larder  being  thus  replenished,  a  meal  was 
soon  cooked,  and  I  sat  down  to  what  was  to  me  both 
a  dinner  and  supper  of  corn-dodger  and  fried  bacon.  I 
called  upon  some  of  the  families  in  this  neighborhood, 
and  some  months  after  met  one  of  the  young  ladies 
at  the  county-seat.  In  talking  with  her  in  regard  to 
this  visit,  I  said  : 

"  I  was  told  that  a  number  of  the  young  women  in 
your  neighborhood  can  not  read." 

"  Oh ! "  said  she,  "  there  are  but  two  there  that 
can  read." 

And  yet  I  was  told  that  there  were  two  or  three 
resident  preachers  there,  but  I  had  not  time  to  call 
upon  them.  As  the  kind  of  food  and  lodging  that  I 
have  described  were  so  common  to  me,  the  chief  "  vari- 
ety" that  was  the  "spice"  of  my  itinerant  "life"  was 
in  the  varied  characters  that  I  met.  And  I  rarely 
found  this  "spice"  of  intenser  flavor  than  in  my  own 
profession,  among  some  of  the  preachers  that  I  found 


242  W  THE  BRUSH. 

in  the  Brush.  The  one  that  I  had  sought  out,  and 
with  whose  family  I  had  spent  the  night,  was  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  of  his  type  with  whom  I  became 
acquainted. 

In  the  morning  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  with 
me  to  visit  and  confer  with  several  of  the  leading  citi- 
zens of  the  county  in  regard  to  its  exploration,  and  to 
spend  the  following  day,  which  was  the  Sabbath,  in 
visiting  two  different  and  distant  congregations,  for 
the  purpose  of  presenting  the  matter  to  them,  and 
"  lifting  collections "  in  its  aid.  "We  rode  several  miles 
through  the  woods,  only  occasionally  passing  a  small 
cabin  and  clearing,  and  made  our  first  call  at  a  log- 
house,  where  my  clerical  friend  and  guide  was  evi- 
dently a  very  great  favorite.  Here  we  were  urged  to 
have  our  horses  put  in  the  stable,  and  remain  to  din- 
ner. We  assented  to  this,  and  arrangements  were  at 
once  made  for  convening  a  Bible  committee,  at  a  house 
in  the  neighborhood,  that  afternoon,  and  for  religious 
services  in  the  house  at  which  we  had  stopped  to  dine 
that  night.  The  husband  and  children  at  once  started 
out  to  circulate  these  notices,  and  the  wife  began 
her  preparations  for  our  dinner.  She  was  apparently 
about  thirty  years  old,  above  the  medium  size,  in 
a  region  of  country  where  the  most  of  the  women 
were  very  large,  with  a  bright,  pleasant  face,  a  cheer- 
ful, happy  -disposition,  and  very  cordial  and  enthusi- 
astic manners.  The  log-house,  though  not  of  the  best, 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.  243 

was  decidedly  of  the  better  class ;  and  our  dinner,  both 
in  its  quality  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  served, 
was  a  great  improvement  upon  my  breakfast,  and  the 
supper  the  night  before.  It  was  a  happy  group. 
Conversation  was  cheerful  and  animated,  and  geniality 
and  joy  glowed  in  all  faces  and  pervaded  all  hearts. 
Some  time  after  dinner  I  started  with  my  clerical  friend 
on  foot  through  the  woods  to  meet  the  Bible  com- 
mittee. After  a  pleasant  interchange  of  views,  we 
appointed  a  colporteur  to  canvass  the  county,  and  ad- 
journed. At  once  we  received  earnest  invitations  from 
different  ones  to  go  home  with  them  to  supper.  They 
were  unwilling  that  the  family  upon  which  we  had 
first  called  should  monopolize  the  pleasure  and  honor 
of  entertaining  us.  I  left  my  clerical  friend  to  settle 
this  matter,  and  we  went  a  mile  or  two  in  another 
direction,  where  we  were  hospitably  entertained  at 
supper.  We  then  returned  to  the  house  where  we 
had  dined,  and  it  was  soon  filled  with  people,  who 
had  assembled  upon  this  brief  notice.  It  was  arranged 
that  instead  of  a  sermon  a  chapter  should  be  read,  and 
each  of  us  should  occupy  a  portion  of  the  time  in 
brief  addresses.  My  friend  read  the  chapter.  I  was 
astonished.  I  had  never  heard  the  like  at  any  pub- 
lic religious  service.  Many  of  the  words  were  mis- 
pronounced and  entirely  miscalled,  and  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  understand  what  was  meant,  from  his 
reading  of  the  passage.  But  both  his  reading  and  re- 


244  AV  THE  BRUSH. 

marks  were  very  well  received,  and  I  saw  no  one  who 
seemed  to  notice  that  there  was  anything  out  of  the 
way  with  either.  I  followed  him  with  some  remarks, 
and  the  meeting  seemed  to  be  greatly  enjoyed  by  all. 
Then  began  a  very  spirited  contest  as  to  where  we 
should  go  and  spend  the  night.  There  were  many 
claimants  for  the  honor. 

"  You  must  go  home  with  me,"  said  one. 

"No,"  said  another,  "you  had  Brother  A when 

he  was  here,  and  you  can't  have  these  preachers.  They 
must  go  with  me." 

"No,"  said  still  another,  "you've  had  the  preach- 
ers a  heap  of  times  since  I  have.  I  hain't  had  nary 
one  in  a  long  time,  and  they  must  go  hum  and  stay 
with  me." 

For  myself,  wearied  as  I  was  with  the  varied 
labors  of  the  day,  I  should  have  greatly  preferred 
remaining  with  the  family  where  I  was.  But  I  left 
the  matter  .for  them  to  decide,  and  we  soon  started 
out,  and  taking  a  footpath  through  the  underbrush, 
among  the  large  forest  -  trees,  we  went  in  the  darkness 
a  mile  or  two,  to  an  entirely  new  cabin.  The  logs 
had  been  peeled,  and  it  looked  very  clean  and  nice. 
A  large  fire  was  soon  blazing  upon  a  hearth  made  of 
fresh  earth,  and  roaring  up  a  chimney  made  of  split 
sticks  covered  with  mud.  It  was  the  home  of  a  young 
couple,  who  had  but  recently  married  and  commenced 
housekeeping.  There  were  two  beds  in  the  room. 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          245 

We  sat  before  the  bright  fire  and  talked  for  some  time, 
until  I  told  them  how  weary  I  was,  and  they  pointed 
out  the  bed  which  the  preacher  and  I  were  to  occupy. 
The  room  was  new  and  bright,  and  the  sense  of  cleanli- 
ness was  most  grateful  to  my  feelings.  I  thought  that 
in  that  new  house  I  should  enjoy  that  rare  luxury  in 
the  cabins  in  the  Brush,  a  nice,  untenanted  bed  and 
a  pleasant  sleep.  As  I  turned  down  the  blankets  and 
moved  nay  pillow  to  adjust  it,  I  saw  what  I  at  first 
thought  was  a  drop  of  molasses  dried  on  the  sheet. 
I  impulsively  moved  my  finger  toward  the  spot  to  as- 
certain what  it  was,  and  it  ran !  My  pleasant  dreams 
were  all  banished,  and  I  plunged  in,  in  desperation,  to 
share  my  bed  with  such  company  as  for  months  and 
years  I  had  found  in  so  many  of  the  log-houses  in 
the  Brush.  The  mild  climate  and  the  habits  of  the 
people  conspired  to  make  the  beds  quite  too  populous 
and  repulsive  to  be  described. 

Though  my  meals  were  often  such  that  only  ne- 
cessity compelled  me  to  partake  of  them,  yet  the  want 
of  beds  fit  to  be  occupied  by  a  human  being,  after  my 
long,  hard  days'  rides,  was  by  far  the  greatest  of  all 
my  privations  and  trials  in  the  Brush.  If  I  were  to 
describe  all  that  I  have  seen  and  endured  in  this  mat- 
ter, it  would  not  only  be  very  unpleasant  and  repulsive 
reading,  but  would  surpass  belief  with  all  those  not 
personally  familiar  with  the  country  and  the  people 
described. 


216  IK  THE 

After  breakfast  the  next  morning  we  walked  back 
to  the  house  where  we  had  first  called  and  left  our 
horses,  and  sat  with  the  family  until  it  was  time  to 
leave  for  church.  As  we  sat  together,  my  clerical 
friend,  who  was  of  an  inquiring  mind,  turned  to  me 
and  said,  "How  do  you  preach  the  first  seven  verses 
of  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes  ? " 

I  must  here  say  that,  in  common  with  the  great 
majority  of  his  class,  lie  used  the  word  "preach"  in 
the  sense  of  "explain."  My  friend  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  H. 
Tyng,  of  New  York,  once  told  me  that  while  preach- 
ing in  a  Southern  State,  in  the  early  part  of  his  min- 
istry, a  preacher  of  this  class  made  him  a  visit.  Seeing 
a  pile  of  manuscripts  upon  his  study-table,  he  inquired 
what  they  were,  and  was  told  that  they  were  sermons. 

"  Why ! "  said  he,  in  astonishment,  "  how  many  texts 
can  you  preach?" 

These  men  were  accustomed  to  "  study  "  a  passage 
in  their  manner,  and  form  some  opinions  in  regard  to 
its  meaning,  and  then  they  "preached"  (explained)  it 
on  all  occasions,  with  the  most  positive  assurance  in 
regard  to  the  correctness  of  their  views.  Hence,  when 
my  friend  asked  me  how  I  "preached"  the  passage 
alluded  to,  he  wished  from  me  a  full  exposition.  Tak- 
ing a  Bible  from  the  mantel-piece  above  the  large  fire- 
place, he  turned  to  the  chapter  and  read  the  first 
verse,  as  he  had  read  the  night  before,  and  said  to  me, 
"  How  do  you  preach  that  ?  " 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.  247 

I  gave  rny  views  of  the  passage  in  as  few  words 
as  possible,  and  then  he  proceeded  at  much  greater 
length  to  tell  how  he  "preached"  it. 

As  he  concluded,  the  good  sister,  who  had  listened 
with  face  all  aglow  with  delight,  exclaimed  :  "  Ah  ! 
Brother  P has  studied  that !  " 

In  this  manner  he  read,  and  we  gave  our  views  of 
each  of  the  seven  verses. 

His  "preach"  was  in  each  case  much  longer  than 
mine,  and  invariably  drew  from  the  attentively  listen- 
ing sister  the  fervent  expression  of  rapt  admiration 
and  delight:  "Ah!  Brother  P has  studied  that!" 

I  am  sorry  that  I  can  not  tell  my  readers  how  he 
"preached"  the  entire  passage;  but  it  was  so  utterly 
strange,  and  so  entirely  unlike  anything  I  had  ever 
conceived  of  as  possible  to  be  said  in  explanation  of 
this  or  any  other  passage  of  Scripture,  that  I  confess 
I  was  obliged  to  exert  myself  to  the  utmost  to  main- 
tain the  gravity  becoming  my  position.  If  I  had 
smiled,  I  should  have  given  great  offense  to  the  de- 
lighted sister,  for  no  enthusiastic  lady  that  I  ever  saw 
was  more  proud  of  her  pastor  than  she  was  of  her 
preacher  at  that  moment.  So  earnest  were  my  efforts 
to  maintain  my  dignity,  and  not  dishonor  my  exalted 
position  as  an  agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society, 
that  I  could  not  afterward  recall  his  explanations  but 
of  two  of  the  passages.  I  will  give  but  one  of  them  : 
"  '  Or  ever  the  silver  cord  be  loosed.'  The  doctors 


248  I&  THE  BRUSH. 

say  that  there  is  a  cord  that  runs  from  the  nape  of 
the  neck,  down  the  backbone,  through  the  small  of 
the  back,  into  the  heart,  right  thar;  and  that  when  a 
man  dies  that  cord  always  snaps :  that  is  the  silver  cord 
loosed."  (!) 

"  Ah ! "  said  the  sister,  her  face  radiant  with  delight, 
"Brother  P—  -  has  studied  that!" 

I  will  only  add  that  this  is  a  fair  illustration  of  his 
explanations  of  all  the  other  verses.  If  I  might  mor- 
alize upon  this  subject,  I  would  repeat  the  opening 
sentence  of  this  chapter  :  "  I  have  very  often  thought 
that  the  best  work  that  could  possibly  be  prepared  in 
favor  of  an  educated  ministry,  would  be  to  send  ste- 
nographers throughout  the  Brush,  to  make  verbatim 
reports  of  sermons  that  are  actually  preached,  and  pub- 
lish them  in  a  volume."  Soon  after  this  exposition, 
we  mounted  our  horses  and  attended  services  at  two 
different  appointments,  Brother  P —  -  preaching  at  one 
of  them.  About  a  year  after  this  I  saw  him  regularly 
ordained  to  the  full  work  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 

There  are  books  containing  "  plans  "  or  "  skeletons  " 
of  sermons,  and  some  clergymen  are  said  to  make  free 
use  of  them  in  the  preparation  of  their  sermons.  I  will 
give  one  which  may  aid  some  limping  preacher  who 
needs  such  helps,  and  hereby  offer  it  as  a  contribution  to 
the  next  volume  of  skeleton  sermons  that  may  be  com- 
piled. The  sermon  was  preached  to  quite  a  large  con- 
gregation in  a  grove,  where  I  was  present  and  occupied 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          24-9 

the  "  stand  "  with  the  preacher.  His  text  was  Job  xxvi, 
14 :  "  Lo,  these  are  parts  of  his  ways :  but  how  little 
a  portion  is  heard  of  him?  but  the  thunder  of  his 
power  who  can  understand  ? "  After  an  introduction 
that  was  quite  as  appropriate  to  any  other  verse  in  the 
Bible  as  to  this,  the  preacher  said : 

"  In  further  discoursing  upon  this  passage,  I  shall, 
in  the  first  place,  review  the  chapter,  and  show  what  is 
meant  by  the  word  '  these.'  I  shall,  in  the  second  place, 
mention  some  of  the  works  of  God.  I  shall,  in  the 
third  place,  conclude,  according  to  circumstances,  light 
Tind  liberty  being  given." 

I  must  say  to  my  readers,  in  explanation  of  his 
"  third  place,"  that  the  "  plan  "  and  effort  in  sermons, 
addresses  to  juries,  political  and  all  other  speeches  in 
the  Southwest,  was  to  wind  up  with  as  grand  and  stir- 
ring a  conclusion  as  possible.  Here  the  congregation 
was  to  be  deeply  moved,  the  jury  to  be  melted,  and  the 
crowd  to  demonstrate  by  their  applause  how  they  would 
vote.  These  perorations  often  reminded  me  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  stage-coaches  of  the  olden  time 
used  to  drive  into  my  native  village,  in  the  days  of  my 
boyhood ;  when  the  driver  cracked  his  long  whip,  blew 
stirring  blasts  from  his  tin  horn,  and  his  four  horses 
rushed  up  to  the  village  tavern  on  the  jump,  his  noisy 
demonstrations  startling  all  the  villagers.  It  was  so 
with  these  sermons  and  speeches.  However  lame  and 
limping  in  their  progress,  there  was  always,  if  possible, 


250  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

a  rousing  conclusion,  a  demonstrative  drive  into  town. 
Hence,  my  clerical  friend  did  not  wish  to  embarrass 
himself  by  announcing  definitely  what  he  would"  say  in 
his  conclusion;  but  left  himself  free  to  soar  and  roar 
"  according  to  circumstances,  light  and  liberty  being 
given."  lie  went  through  with  his  sermon  according  to 
his  "  plan,"  but  his  conclusion  did  not  arouse  and  move 
his  audience  like  many  that  I  have  heard. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  genial  friend  to  whom 
I  sold  my  faithful  horse,  and  of  the  accounts  that  he 
gave  me  of  the  preachers  he  had  known  and  the 
preaching  he  had  heard.  He  told  me  that  upon  one  oc-- 
casion  he  heard  the  funeral  sermon  of  a  child  preached 
from  the  text,  "Write,  Blessed  are  the  dead,"  etc. 
The  preacher  was  so  ignorant  in  regard  to  spelling  that 
he  supposed  the  "  write "  in  the  text  was  "  right,"  not 
wrong,  and  he  endeavored  to  comfort  the  parents  by 
showing  them  that  it  was  "right"  that  people  should 
suffer  affliction,  "  right "  that  their  children  should  sick- 
en and  die,  and  that  all  the  Lord's  dealings  with  his 
people  were  "right." 

On  another  occasion  he  attended  a  meeting  where  a 
number  of  ministers  were  present,  and  the  opening  ser- 
mon was  preached  by  an  old  acquaintance  and  friend, 
who  owned  a  good  plantation,  a  number  of  slaves,  and 
for  many  years  preached  regularly  on  alternate  Sabbaths 
to  two  quite  large  congregations.  There  are  many 
thousands  of  people  who  rarely,  if  ever,  hear  a  sermon 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.  251 

from  an  educated  minister.  These  people  have  strong 
and  well-defined  notions  as  to  the  kind  of  preaching  that 
suits  them.  If  the  preacher  ranges  extensively  over  the 
Bible,  and  quotes  a  great  deal  of  Scripture  without  any 
regard  to  its  appropriateness  or  connection  with  the  text, 
they  say  of  him  approvingly :  "  He's  a  Scripter  preacher. 
He's  not  a  larnt  man,  but  he's  a  real  Scripter  preacher." 
Hence,  many  of  these  preachers  range  over  both  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  in  every  sermon,  and  quote  as 
much  as  they  can,  with  as  little  connection  as  a  page 
in  the  dictionary. 

The  preacher  on  this  occasion  took  for  his  text  the 
words :  "  The  name  of  the  Lord  is  a  strong  tower ;  the 
righteous  runneth  into  it,  and  is  safe."  He  described 
these  towers  as  places  of  safety,  ranged  through  the 
Old  Testament,  and,  coming  down  to  the  New,  said: 
"  The  world  was  then  in  an  awful  condition ;  there  were 
no  towers,  no  places  of  safety !  The  whole  generation 
was  without  a  tower !  You  may  say :  '  How  do  you 
know  this  is  so  ?  You  haven't  much  learning.  You 
haven't  read  many  histories.'  Ah  !  but  I've  got  Scripter 
for  it.  I  don't  want  any  histories  when  I've  got  the 
Bible  for  it.  Here  it  is.  Peter,  preaching  to  them  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost,  said,  '  Save  yourselves  from  this 
untowered  generation.' " 

After  the  meeting  "  broke,"  and  they  mounted 
their  horses  to  ride  to  dinner,  my  old  friend  said  to  the 
preacher : 


252  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

"Why,  Brother  Mansfield,  you  made  a  great  mis- 
take in  your  sermon  this  morning." 

"  Mistake  ! "  said  he,  "  what  was  it,  Brother  Koach  ? " 

"  Why,  that  about  the  '  untowered  generation.'  It  is 
not  untowered,"  said  he  ;  "  it  is  untoward.  It  is,  '  Save 
yourselves  from  this  untoward  generation.'  ': 

The  preacher  dropped  his  head,  thought  a  moment, 
and  then  said : 

"  There  can't  be  any  mistake  about  that.  Why,  I've 
preached  it  that  way  more  than  a  dozen  times." 

When  they  reached  the  house  where  they  were  to 
dine,  they  found  a  dictionary,  and  that  was  appealed  to 
to  settle  the  matter.  Alas,  that  the  verdict  spoiled  a 
favorite  sermon ! 

I  was  about  as  much  astonished  at  the  facts  I  heard 
in  regard  to  the  salaries  that  were  paid  to  these  preach- 
ers, with  all  the  formalities  of  a  regular  contract,  as  at 
anything  I  ever  learned  in  regard  to  their  preaching. 
I  once  occupied  the  pulpit  with  one  of  them,  in  a  church 
which  was  a  large,  barn-like  brick  structure,  having  four 
doors,  one  near  each  corner,  for  the  ingress  and  egress  of 
the  congregation.  This  preacher  was  a  great  favorite  in 
the  region,  with  both  the  white  and  colored  people,  and 

was  familiarly  known  as  "Jimmy  B ."  He  had 

stentorian  lungs,  was  wonderfully  voluble,  and  his  sing- 
song "holy  tone"  was  most  delightful  to  his  audience. 
It  was  a  warm  summer  day,  and  the  house  was  packed 
with  whites  dressed  in  butternut  jeans,  and  groups  of 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          253 

colored  people  were  standing  outside  near  each  open 
window.  It  was  a  monthly  service,  and  all  seemed  to 
enjoy  it  greatly. 

In  the  afternoon,  after  the  custom  of  the  Southwest, 
he  preached  to  the  "  servants,"  and  I  again  occupied  a 
seat  in  the  pulpit  with  him.  His  colored  audience  was 
moved  by  his  stentorian  voice  and  avalanche  of  words 
to  the  extremest  excitement  and  joy.  At  the  conclusion 
of  his  sermon  they  could  not  separate  without  singing 
some  of  their  ''  breaking"  songs,  and  all  marching  by 
the  pulpit  and  shaking  hands  with  the  preachers.  This 
hand-shaking  was  one  of  the  most  marked  features  of 
their  religious  services,  and  these  "  breaking  "  or  part- 
ing exercises  have  afforded  me  the  opportunity  of  hear- 
ing the  grandest,  wildest,  most  beautiful  and  genuine 
African  melodies  to  which  I  have  ever  listened.  As  I 
was  a  "  visiting  brother,"  I  was  entitled  to  as  warm  and 
cordial  a  greeting  as  the  one  who  had  preached.  The 
leader  commenced  a  hymn  familiar  to  the  large  audience, 
and  they  began  to  sing  and  move  in  procession  by  the 
low  pulpit  where  we  were  standing,  shaking  hands  with 
each  of  us  as  they  passed.  As  the  long  procession  filed 
by,  their  dark  faces  shining  with  delight,  the  music 
arose  louder,  wilder,  and  more  exciting,  until  they 
seemed  entirely  unconscious  of  the  strength  of  the  grip 
they  gave  my  poor,  suffering  hand.  I  was  unwilling 
to  mar  their  joy  by  withdrawing  it  altogether,  and,  to 
save  it  from  being  utterly  crushed,  I  resorted  to  the  ex- 


254  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

pedient  of  suddenly  clutching  the  end  of  the  fingers  of 
each  hand  that  was  extended  to  me  by  the  excited  and 
happy  singers,  and  so  they  were  unable  to  give  me 
their  vise -like  squeeze,  and  I  escaped  comparatively 
unharmed.  The  hand -shaking  ended,  the  meeting 
"broke,"  and  they  all  dispersed,  masters  and  slaves 
highly  delighted  with  the  preacher  and  all  the  services 
of  the  day. 

My  host  upon  this  occasion  was  the  hotel-keeper 
of  the  place.  In  talking  with  him  about  the  great 
popularity  of  this  preacher,  he  said  that,  if  equally 
extended  notice  should  be  given  that  he  would  preach 
there  on  one  Sabbath,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Young,  the 
learned  and  eloquent  President  of.  the  college  at  Dan- 
ville, would  preach  there  on  another,  Jimmy  B — 
would  call  together  the  largest  audience.  At  another 
place,  when  quite  a  number  of  persons  were  present, 
reference  was  made  to  the  salary  that  was  received  by 
this  popular  favorite.  I  made  particular  inquiries  upon 
this  subject,  and  learned  that  the  church  negotiated  with 
him  to  preach  for  them  one  Sabbath  each  month  during 
the  year,  for  one  dollar  a  Sabbath.  Hence,  they  paid 
him  twelve  dollars  a  year  for  one  fourth  of  his  time. 
Some  of  them  thought  that  as  neither  he  nor  any  other 
good  hand  could  at  that  time  get  more  than  fifty  cents 
a  day  for  mauling  rails,  hoeing  corn,  or  any  other  labor, 
this  salary  was  rather  excessive ;  but  in  consideration  of 
the  fact  that  he  had  to  leave  home  on  Saturday  even- 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          255 

ing  in  order  to  meet  his  appointment,  and  furnish  his 
own  riding-nag,  they  magnanimously  voted  him  the 
full  dollar  a  Sunday,  "for  one  fourth  of  his  time."  I 
was  informed  that  he  preached  to  other  churches,  but 
did  not  learn  that  any  of  them  paid  him  a  larger  salary. 

In  another  place  that  I  visited,  the  Rev.  James  L 

had  preached  to  the  same  church  twenty-one  years,  and 
he  said  the  largest  sum  he  had  ever  received  for  preach- 
ing in  any  one  year  was  twenty  dollars,  and  he  had 
often  received  less  than  ten  dollars !  Very  many  of 
these  churches  were  entirely  satisfied  if  they  had  regu- 
lar preaching  once  a  month.  In  riding  through  the 
Brush,  I  used  often  to  gratify  my  curiosity  by  making 
inquiries  in  regard  to  the  salaries  received  by  those  who 
preached  in  the  churches  that  I  passed.  Once,  in  riding 
late  in  the  evening,  I  overtook — or,  in  the  vernacular  of 
the  region,  "  met  up  with  " — a  boy  some  twelve  or  four- 
teen years  old,  who  was  riding  a  mule.  After  exchang- 
ing "howd'ys,"  I  found  him  very  loquacious,  and  dis- 
posed to  enlighten  me  in  regard  to  everything  in  the 
neighborhood.  I  asked  him  what  salary  they  paid  their 
preacher.  "  Oh  !  "  said  he,  "  they  pay  the  one  they  have 
got  now  right  smart.  They  give  him  a  dollar  and  a 
half  a  Sunday." 

We  passed  a  church  where  the  members  washed  one 
another's  feet  at  each  communion.  I  made  some  in- 
quiries in  regard  to  the  ceremony,  and  he  told  me  the 
brethren  washed  only  the  brethren's  feet,  and  the  sisters 


256  IK  THE  BRUSH. 

the  sisters'  feet.  I  told  him  that  I  supposed  they  only 
sprinkled  water  upon  their  feet — they  did  not  wash 
much.  "  Oh !  "  said  he,  "  sometimes  they  gets  happy,  and 
washes  right  hard."  I  had  spent  a  Sabbath  at  a  meeting 
in  the  woods  with  the  poet  of  this  denomination,  and 
purchased  of  him  a  hymn-book  that  he  had  been  duly 
authorized  to  compile  and  publish  for  them,  containing 
some  hymns  that  he  had  written  to  be  sung  at  these 
feet-washing  services.  He  was  one  of  the  most  illiterate 
men  I  ever  met.  I  regret  to  say  that  I  have  lost  the 
book,  and  can  not  transcribe  some  of  these  original 
hymns  for  the  benefit  of  my  readers.  I  had  a  good 
deal  of  conversation  with  this  "  poet,"  and  he  told  me  he 
was  at  the  time  engaged  in  teaching  school.  I  after- 
ward met  the  school  commissioner,  a  lawyer,  at  the 
county-seat,  who  had  examined  him  and  given  him  his 
license  to  teach,  and  rallied  him  jocosely  for  giving  a 
man  that  was  so  ignorant,  authority  to  teach  a  public 
school. 

"  Oh  ! "  said  he,  "  I  only  certified  that  he  was  com- 
petent to  teach  in  that  neighborhood" 

For  years  I  was  accustomed  to  avail  myself  of  every 
opportunity  of  hearing  these  illiterate  preachers,  both 
white  and  colored,  consistent  with  my  other  duties.  It 
was  a  new  and  interesting  study  to  me.  Sometimes  I 
got  rare  kernels  of  wheat  in  the  midst  of  a  great  deal 
of  chaff,  rich  nuggets  of  gold  among  a  great  deal  of 
sand  and  rubbish;  and  I  always  felt  more  than  repaid 


OLD-TIJIE  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          257 

for  the  time  thus  expended.  It  was  interesting  to  ob- 
serve the  workings  of  minds,  often  of  superior  natural 
powers,  in  their  attempts  to  elucidate  the  Scriptures. 
It  was  especially  strange  to  hear  them  render  any  Script- 
ure narrative,  entirely  in  their  own  Brush  vernacular. 
I  have  often  regretted  that  I  did  not  take  down  many 
of  these  narratives  of  Bible  facts  at  the  time  I  heard 
them.  But  the  unusual  sight  of  a  person  thus  em- 
ployed in  a  congregation  would  attract  more  attention 
than  the  preacher  himself,  and  I  was  therefore  unwill- 
ing to  do  it.  But  I  can  give  my  readers  a  very  correct 
idea  of  these  narratives. 

In  riding  through  a  very  rough,  wild  region,  I  fell 
in  company  with  a  gentleman  on  horseback,  and  rode 
some  distance  with  him.  He  told  me  that  a  preacher, 
who  was  so  illiterate  that  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  he  could  study  out  a  chapter  in  the 
Bible,  sometimes  preached  in  a  log  schoolhouse  in  his 
neighborhood,  and  he  had  heard  him  the  Sabbath  be- 
fore. It  was  in  a  region  where  a  rough-and-tumble 
fight  would  attract  more  attention  than  anything  else. 
The  preacher  had  a  theme  of  the  deepest  interest  to 
himself  and  the  most  of  his  congregation.  This  gen- 
tleman gave  me  quite  a  full  outline  of  the  discourse, 
and  I  write  it  out  from  his  description,  and  fill  it  up 
as  my  extended  acquaintance  with  these  people,  and 
knowledge  of  their  vernacular,  derived  from  years  of 
constant  mingling  with  them,  enable  me  to  do. 


258  IK  THE  BRUSH. 

"Last  week,  my  breethrin,  as  I  was  a-readin'  my 
Bible,  I  found  a  story  of  a  big  fight  (1  Samuel,  xvii). 
It  was  powerful  interesting  and  I  studied  it  'most 
all  the  week.  There  was  two  armies  campin'  on  two 
mountains  right  fornenst  each  other ;  and  a  holler  and, 
I  reckon,  some  good  bottom-land  and  a  medder-lot 
lying  between  'em.  In  one  of  the  armies  there  was  a 
big  feller — a  whoppin',  great,  big  feller — and  every 
day  he  went  down  into  the  medder-lot  and  looked  up 
the  hill  to  t'other  camp,  and  jest  dared  'em!  He  told 
'em  to  pick  their  best  man  and  send  him  down,  and 
he'd  fight  him.  And  he  jest  strutted  around  there  in 
his  soger- close,  and  waited  for  'em  to  send  on  their 
man.  And  such  soger -close  I  never  heerd  tell  on 
afore.  He  had  a  brass  cap  and  brass  trousers,  and  a 
coat  made  like  mail-bags  where  they  are  all  ironed  and 
riveted  together.  But  the  fellers  in  t'other  camp 
just  clean  flunked.  They  darn't  fight  the  big  feller, 
nary  one  of  'em.  They  jest  all  sneaked  away,  and 
the  big  feller  he  went  back  to  camp.  But  he  didn't 
quit  thar,  the  big  feller  didn't.  He  was  spilin'  for  a 
fight,  and  he  was  bound  to  have  it.  He  jest  went 
down  into  the  bottom-land,  into  the  medder-lot,  every 
day,  mornin'  and  evenin',  and  dared  'em  and  dared 
'em.  I  tell  you  he  did  pester  'em  mightily.  The  old 
feller,  Saul,  the  gineral,  he  felt  more  chawed  up  and 
meaner  than  the  sogers,  and,  when  he  couldn't  stan' 
it  no  longer,  he  told  the  boys  if  any  of  'em  would 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.  259 

go  down  and  lick  that  big  feller  he'd  give  him  his 
gal,  and  a  right  smart  chance  of  plunder.  But  they 
was  all  so  skeer'd  that  even  that  didn't  start  one  of 
'em.  The  big  feller  went  down  and  dared  'em  and 
pestered  'em  more'n  a  month — forty  days,  the  Bible 
says.  I  don't  know  what  they'd  a  -  done  if  it  hadn't  a- 
be'n  that  a  peart  little  feller  had  come  down  to  camp 
one  day  to  fetch  some  extra  rations  to  his  three  big 
brothers,  that  their  old  dad  had  sent  to  'em  from 
home.  Kind  old  pap  he  was,  and  sharp,  too,  for  he 
sent  along  a  big  present  to  the  boys'  cap'en.  Well, 
jest  as  little  brother  drove  up,  they  was  all  gwine 
out  to  fight,  and  the  little  feller  left  his  traps  with 
the  driver,  legged  it  after  the  sogers,  and  told  his 
big  brothers  howd'y.  Right  thar  the  old  big  feller 
come  out  and  dared  'em  agin,  and  they  was  all  so 
skeer'd  that  they  jest  run  like  mad.  The  little  feller 
heerd  him,  and  then  went  back  into  camp  and  heerd 
all  the  sogers  talking  about  him,  and  what  the  old 
gineral  would  give  to  have  him  licked.  He  asked 
'em  a  heap  of  questions  about  it  all,  and  big  brother 
he  got  mad  at  him,  and  twitted  him  about  keeping 
sheep,  and  give  him  a  right  smart  of  sass.  lie  was 
plucky,  but  you  see  he  had  to  stan'  it,  'cause  'twas 
big  brother.  Big  brothers  are  mighty  mean  sometimes. 
"But  the  little  feller  talked  a  heap  with  the  other 
sogers,  and  they  told  the  old  gineral  about  him,  and 
he  told  them  to  tell  the  little  feller  to  come  and  see 


260  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

him.  The  little  feller  was  mighty  plucky,  and  he  jest 
up  and  told  the  old  Gineral  Saul  that  he'd  fight  the 
~big  feller  !  The  gineral  looked  at  the  handsome  little 
feller — he  was  raal  handsome — and  ses  he,  kinder  soft- 
ly, I  reckon,  and  shakin'  his  head  :  '  It's  too  big  a  job ; 
you're  only  a  chunk  of  a  boy,  and  he's  an  old  fighter.' 
The  little  feller  spunked  up  and  told  the  old  gineral 
that  he'd  had  one  b'ar-fight,  and  he'd  killed  the  b'ar. 
lie  said  there  was  an  old  lion  and  a  b'ar  got  among 
his  dad's  sheep,  and  was  gwine  off  with  a  lamb.  lie 
broke  for  'im,  and  as  soon  as  he  met  up  with  the  old 
b'ar  he  lamm'd  him,  till  the  b'ar  turned  on  him  for  a 
hug;  but  he  got  one  hand  into  the  long  ha'r,  under 
his  jaw,  and  he  lamm'd  him  with  the  other  till  he  was 
dead.  He'd  killed  the  lion  and  the  b'ar,  and  he  know'd 
he  was  enough  for  the  old  big  feller. 

"  Then  the  little  feller  talked  raal  religious  to  the 
old  gineral.  You  see  he'd  got  religion  afore  that,  and 
he  know'd  that  the  Lord  would  help  a  feller,  if  he  was 
all  right,  and  got  in  a  tight  place.  He  told  Gineral 
Saul  that  the  Lord  had  made  him  mighty  supple,  and 
looked  out  for  him  when  the  old  lion  and  b'ar  tried 
to  get  their  paws  into  him  ;  and  he  knew  he'd  see  him 
through  the  fight  with  the  old  big  feller;  for  he  was 
jest  darin'  'em  and  pesterin'  'em  to  make  game  of  relig- 
ion. When  the  old  gineral  seed  he  was  so  plucky, 
and  religious  too,  he  know'd  them's  the  kind  that  fit 
powerful,  and  he  told  him  to  go  in,  and  he  made  a 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          2G1 

little  pra'r  for  him  hisself.  Then  the  old  gineral  put 
his  own  soger-close  on  the  little  feller,  and  strapped 
his  sword  on  to  him.  But  they  was  all  a  heap  too  big, 
and  he  shucked  'em  off  d'rectly,  and  made  for  a  dry 
branch  down  in  the  bottom.  There  he  hunted  five 
little  rocks,  smooth  as  a  hen-egg,  put  'em  in  a  little 
bag  where  he  carried  his  snack  when  he  was  a-tendin' 
the  sheep,  got  his  sling  fixed  all  right,  and  hurried  up 
to  meet  the  old  big  feller  in  the  medder-lot.  When 
he  seed  him  comin'  he  was  powerful  mad  they'd  sent 
down  such  a  little  feller,  and  jawed  awful.  But  the 
little  feller  jest  talked  back  religious,  and  kept  his  eye 
peeled.  And  I  reckon  the  big  feller  couldn't  a  be'n  a 
lookin'.  I've  studied  a  heap  on  it,  and  I  jest  know 
the  big  feller  couldn't  a-be'n  a-lookin' ;  for  the  little 
feller  got  out  his  sling,  and  drew  away,  and  shietl  a 
little  rock  at  him,  and  he  popped  him,  and  down  he 
tumbled.  Then  the  little  feller  rushed  up  and  mounted 
on  him,  jest  as  an  old  hunter  loves  to  get  on  a  b'ar  after 
he's  shot  him ;  and  he  out  with  the  big  feller's  long 
sword  and  off  with  his  head.  Then  it  was  them  Phil- 
istine sinners'  turn  to  be  skeer'd,  and  they  broke  for  the 
brush;  and  all  them  chil'en  of  Israel  fellers  jest  shouted 
and  chased  'em  clean  over  the  mountain  into  a  valley, 
and  then  com'd  back  and  got  all  their  camp-plunder. 
"  My  breethrin,  that's  the  best  story  of  a  fight  I  ever 
read  after ;  and  you  can't  buy  no  better  story-book  than 

this  'ere  Bible." 
12 


262  IN  TEE  BRUSH. 

If  the  facts  presented  in  this  chapter  make  a  draft 
on  the  credence  of  any  of  my  readers  that  they  find 
it  difficult  to  honor,  I  respectfully  commend  to  them 
the  study  of  the  late  United  States  census,  especially 
its  portrayal  of  the  illiteracy  of  the  late  slave  States. 
The  figures  are  as  humiliating  as  they  are  startling. 
They  seem  at  length  to  be  forcing  themselves  upon 
the  attention  of  the  President,  Congress,  and  the  coun- 
try. But  no  figures  can  ever  make  any  such  impres- 
sion as  the  actual  personal  contact  I  have  had  with 
thousands  of  these  people  in  their  own  homes,  since 
the  commencement  of  my  labors  among  them  in  1843. 

But  my  account  of  "  Old-Time  Illiterate  Preachers 
in  the  Southwest"  would  be  very  incomplete  if  it  did 
not  include  some  of  the  notable 


NEGRO   PREACHERS   OF   THE   OLD   REGIME. 

I  used  to  take  great  interest  in  hearing  them  preach, 
and  availed  myself  of  every  possible  opportunity  to  do 
so,  consistent  with  my  duties.  Many  of  these  preach- 
ers were  very  devout  and  godly  men.  They  had  good 
judgment,  strong  native  sense,  and  exerted  a  great  in- 
fluence over  the  slaves,  which  was  highly  appreciated 
by  their  masters.  They  also  gratified  in  a  measure  the 
religious  instincts  of  the  slaves,  by  officiating  at  their 
weddings  and  funerals. 

One  of  the  largest,   most  orderly,   and   impressive 


aLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          263 

funeral  processions  that  I  have  ever  witnessed,  was  that 
of  an  old  negro  preacher  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  who 
had  been  the  pastor  of  a  large  colored  church  in  that 
city  for  many  years.  It  was  upon  a  Sabbath  afternoon, 
during  a  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  which  I 
was  attending.  Hundreds  of  slaves  came  in  from  the 
surrounding  country,  and  it  was  estimated  that  there 
were  from  two  to  three  thousand  in  the  procession. 
Nearly  every  family-carriage  in  the  city  and  the  sur- 
rounding country  was  in  the  line,  occupied  by  the  "  fam- 
ily servants."  These  carriages  were  sent  by  the  owners, 
as  their  tribute  to  the  old  preacher  for  his  great  and 
good  influence  over  their  slaves.  The  most  of  the  men 
marched  some  four  or  six  abreast,  with  slow  and  solemn 
tread,  and  that  silent  awe  to  which  their  natures  are  so 
susceptible  in  the  presence  of  death. 

I  knew  another  negro  preacher,  and  often  heard  him 
address  his  people,  for  whom  I  had  the  profoundest 
respect.  He  was  a  devout  and  saintly  man,  and  his 
dignified  port  and  bearing  were  those  of  a  born  gentle- 
man. He  was  often  engaged  the  whole  week  "  attend- 
ing masons."  I  have  often  met  him  as  he  was  driving 
a  horse,  sitting  upon  a  wagon-load  of  mortar,  thoroughly 
bespattered,  and  received  from  him  a  bow  so  easy,  dig- 
nified, and  graceful,  that  many  a  Governor  and  Con- 
gressman that  I  have  known  might  well  covet  his  dis- 
tinguished bearing. 

Upon  one  occasion  I  heard  him  preach  a  sermon  to 


IN   THE  BRUSH. 

his  congregation,  enforcing  the  duty  of.  keeping  their 
hearts  pure  and  free  from  all  evil  thoughts,  when  he 
abruptly  broke  forth :  "  But  you  say,  '  I  can't,  I  can't. 
These  bad  thoughts  come  to  me,  and  I  can't  help  it.'  I 
know  you  can't  help  it,"  said  he,  "  and  I  know,  too,  that 
you  can't  help  the  birds  flying  over  your  heads ;  but 
you  can  help  their  building  nests  in  your  ha'r "  (hair). 

The  public  political,  theological,  and  other  discus- 
sions, that  I  have  already  described  in  this  volume,  de- 
veloped a  love  of  religious  controversy  in  the  South- 
west such  as  I  have  never  known  among  any  other 
people. 

The  negroes  were  echoes  and  imitators  of  the  whites 
in  this  respect  as  in  others.  Morning  services  were 
for  the  white  congregations,  but  slaves  usually  attended 
them,  often  in  large  numbers.  The  afternoons  were 
mostly  given  up  to  the  colored  people,  and  they  were 
free  to  attend  religious  services,  whether  they  were 
ministered  to  by  white  or  negro  preachers.  If  there 
was  a  public  discussion,  or  any  special  interest  or  ex- 
citement upon  any  subject  at  the  morning  service,  that 
was  almost  certain  to  be  the  theme  of  the  negro  preach- 
er's discourse  to  his  afternoon  audience. 

The  overwhelming  majority  of  colored  church-mem- 
bers were  either  Baptists  or  Methodists.  The  differ- 
ences of  these  churches  in  doctrinal  belief  were  the 
theme  of  almost  endless  controversy  between  the  colored 
champions  and  defenders  of  these  opposing  creeds. 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          265 

Some  of  these  discussions  were  original  and  spicy 
beyond  anything  I  have  ever  heard  of  in  the  line  of 
theological  controversy.  I  will  give  a  few  characteristic 
illustrations. 

I  had  preached  in  the  morning  at  a  small  county-seat 
village,  and  after  dinner  set  out,  with  a  venerable  and 
estimable  Methodist  "  local  preacher,"  to  attend  his 
afternoon  appointment.  After  a  ride  of  several  miles, 
we  reached  the  brow  of  a  very  deep  and  narrow  ravine, 
which  we  were  to  cross.  At  the  moment  of  our  arrival 
a  venerable,  gray-haired  black  man,  mounted  upon  a  fine 
horse,  appeared  upon  the  opposite  brow.  At  the  first 
sight  of  him  I  turned  to  my  companion  and  said : 

"  That  must  be  a  brother  preacher." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  he,  "  he  is  a  very  distinguished 
preacher.  He  is  the  champion  and  defender  of  the 
Methodist  Church  among  the  colored  people  in  all  this 
region.  He  is  an  old  and  favorite  family  servant,  and 
his  master,  who  is  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  allows  him 
to  use  that  fine  horse  in  going  to  his  afternoon  appoint- 
ments." 

As  we  passed  him,  he  returned  "  the  bow  profession- 
al "  with  a  dignity  and  a  Methodistic  swing  that  would 
have  done  honor  to  such  old  itinerants  as  Bishop  As- 
-bury  and  Bishop  Soule.  Such  was  my  first  acquaintance 
with  the  Rev.  Nathan  Board,  whose  controversial  ex- 
ploits I  am  about  to  relate.  As  we  rode  on,  my  friend 
informed  me  that  upon  one  occasion,  when  Nathan  was 


266  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

present  at  a  Baptist  church  at  a  communion,  the  preach- 
er, in  giving  the  reason  why  they  did  not  invite  those  of 
other  denominations  who  were  present  to  commune  with 
them,  said : 

"  We  are  not  alone  and  singular  in  the  fact  that  we 
do  not  invite  you  all  to  commune  with  us.  Presbyteri 
ans  fence  the  tables.  Methodists  fence  the  tables.  All 
other  denominations  fence  the  tables.  They  do  not 
allow  anybody  and  everybody  to  commune  with  them. 
"We  all  fence  the  tables.  The  only  difference  is,  that  the 
Baptist  fence  is  a  little  higher  than  any  of  the  others." 

In  the  afternoon  Nathan  preached  to  his  people,  and 
as  some  of  them  had  been  present  in  the  morning  and 
heard  this  address,  he  had  to  answer  it  for  their  benefit. 
After  repeating  the  whole  address,  he  said: 

"Now,  my  bruddren,  I'd  rather  have  a  low  fence 
and  a  tight  one,  than  a  high  fence  and  a  good  many 
holes  in  it." 

As  these  Baptists  were  of  the  anti-mission  class,  who 
opposed  an  educated  and  paid  ministry,  Sabbath-schools, 
Bible  societies,  and  all  mission  enterprises,  but  favored 
good  Bourbon,  Nathan's  reply  was  regarded  as  decidedly 
personal,  and  some  of  them  thought  he  ought  to  be 
"  whooped "  (whipped)  for  his  impudence. 

A  few  weeks  after  this  I  reached  a  county-seat  vil- 
lage upon  the  Ohio  River,  and  learned  that  it  had  re- 
cently been  the  theatre  of  a  very  exciting  theological 
controversy  among  the  slaves. 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          267 

A  colored  Baptist  preacher,  of  great  reputation 
among  his  brethren  for  boldness  and  polemical  skill  as 
the  champion  and  defender  of  his  denomination,  a  Cal- 
vinist  of  the  stern  John  Knox  order,  became  greatly 
excited  on  account  of  what  he  esteemed  the  heretical 
doctrines  and  bad  influence  of  Methodism.  After  ma- 
ture deliberation,  he  determined  that  he  would  wage 
against  it  a  war  of  extermination  in  the  community. 

Having  formed  this  resolution,  for  successive  Sab- 
baths he  labored  in  the  work,  and  discharged  his  bat- 
teries with  most  telling  effect.  His  victory  was  a  signal 
one.  Arminianism  was  overwhelmed — the  Methodists 
were  completely  routed.  They  had  no  preacher  that 
they  dared  to  put  up  to  answer  their  opponent,  and  they 
could  only  manfully  acknowledge  that  they  were  beaten 
for  the  present,  and  adjourn  their  defense  to  some 
future  day.  I  was  only  able  to  learn  the  manner  in 
which  he  discussed  the  antagonistic  Arminian  and  Cal- 
vinistic  doctrines  of  "  falling  from  grace,"  and  the  "  per- 
severance of  the  saints."  But,  if  that  was  a  specimen 
of  the  entire  discussion,  any  one  at  all  acquainted  with 
slave  preaching,  with  the  frequent  use  made  by  these 
preachers  of  illustrations  and  comparisons,  and  the 
great  effects  produced  by  them  upon  the  minds  of  the 
slaves,  can  well  understand  how  this  preacher  had  such 
power  over  his  audience.  It  was  as  follows  : 

"De  Methodiss,  my  bruddren,  is  like  de  grass- 
hopper— hoppin',  all  de  time  hoppin' — hop  into  heaven, 


268  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

hop  out,  hop  into  heaven,  hop  out.  But,  my  bruddren, 
de  Baptiss,  when  he  get  to  heaven,  he's  dar !  De 
Baptiss  is  like  de  'possum.  Hunter  get  after  him,  he 
climb  de  tree;  he  shake  de  limb,  one  foot  gone;  he 
shake  de  limb,  anudder  foot  gone;  he  shake  de  limb, 
ebbery  foot  gone  ;  but  tink  you,  my  bruddren,  'possum 
fall?  You  know,  my  bruddren — you  coteh  too  many 
—you  know  'possum  hang  on  ~by  de  tail,  and  de  berry 
debbil  can't  shake  him  off ! " 

The  head  Methodists,  after  many  conferences,  con- 
cluded that  they  would  make  one  desperate  effort  to 
save  their  cause.  After  discussing  the  merits  of  all 
their  preachers  far  and  near,  they  decided  to  send  for 
the  Rev.  Nathan  Board,  the  veteran  war-horse  in  theo- 
logical polemics  I  have  already  introduced  to  my  read- 
ers. This  venerable  preacher  of  the  olden  time  was  a 
genuine .  African,  and  entered  his  profession  before  it 
was  fashionable  for  those  of  his  class  to  learn  to  read ; 
but  he  had  a  strong  memory,  which  made  up  some- 
what for  this  "defect"  in  his  education,  and,  if  he 
could  not  remember  the  very  thing  that  he  wished  to 
repeat,  he  could  always  remember  something;  and, 
therefore,  he  was  never  at  a  loss  for  a  quotation  from 
Scripture,  or  an  illustration. 

The  appointed  Sabbath  arrived,  and  Nathan  was 
on  the  ground.  The  intense  excitement  among  the 
blacks  had  aroused  the  curiosity  of  the  whites,  and 
there  was  a  general  turnout  of  white  and  black  to 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          269 

hear  Nathan's  defense.  His  brethren  had  in  private 
gone  over  all  the  strong  points  that  had  been  made 
by  their  opponent,  had  given  him  a  graphic  and  glow- 
ing picture  of  the  utterly  prostrate  condition  of  their 
cause,  and  with  the  eloquence  of  the  deepest  feeling 
had  endeavored  to  impress  him  with  the  magnitude 
of  the  interests  involved  in  his  success  or  failure. 
Nathan  was  greatly  excited,  but  he  was  confident  of 
his  ability  to  meet  the  emergency.  He  had  not  read 
books,  but  in  the  previous  fifty  years  he  had  witnessed 
many  a  fierce  and  bitter  contest  between  successive 
Governors,  Congressmen,  and  others,  in  their  hot  race 
for  ofiice,  and  his  polemical  tastes  had  made  him  a 
close  observer  of  the  various  methods  of  meeting  and 
overwhelming  an  opponent.  That  my  readers  may  un- 
derstand what  follows,  I  must  premise  that  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Union,  under  the  presidency  of  the  Rev. 
Spencer  H.  Cone,  D.  D.,  was  at  the  time  very  earnestly 
engaged  in  the  revision  of  the  Bible ;  that  the  Baptist 
churches  in  the  Southwest  very  generally  cooperated 
in  this  work ;  that  pastors  of  churches  and  agents  of 
the  society  were  urging  its  necessity,  and  soliciting 
collections  in  its  aid  ;  and  that  the  other  denominations 
were  very  generally  defending  King  James's  transla- 
tion, and  opposing  the  new  version.  Hence  the  ques- 
tion was  the  subject  of  almost  universal  discussion  by 
the  white  clergymen ;  and,  as  I  have  already  said,  the 
colored  preachers  were  but  their  echoes — they  all  felt 


270  •!&  THE  BRUSH. 

called  upon  to  enlighten  their  congregations  upon  this, 
as  upon  all  other  questions. 

Having  gone  through  the  preliminary  services,  Na- 
than arose  and  commenced  his  sermon  as  follows : 

"My  bruddren,  I  has  been  sent  for  to  come  here 
and  preach,  and,  when  I  gets  t'rough,  you'll  t'iiik  I  has 
preached.  You'll  find  my  text,  if  my  memory  sarve 
me,  in  de  book  of  de  Revolution :  '  For  de  great  day  of 
his  raff  is  come,  and  who  do  you  t'ink  is  gwine  to  stand  ? ' ' 

Nathan  was  too  full  to  spend  any  time  in  introduc- 
tion. He  broke  out  at  once,  in  the  most  emphatic 
manner :  "  And  do  you  t'ink,  my  bruddren,  de  Baptiss 
will  den  be  able  to  stand?"  Shutting  his  eyes  and 
shaking  his  head  most  dubiously,  with  his  peculiar  gut- 
tural "  Umph !  ah !  my  Lord !  and  you'll  see  'em  pad 
dling  den.  All  de  water  in  de  Ohio  River  won't  save 
'em  den ;  dey'll  call  for  de  rocks  and  de  mountains  to 
fall  on  'em  in  dat  great  day  of  his  raff,  and  I'll  tell 
you,  my  bruddren,  dat  a  hot  rock  will  be  a  mighty 
tight  place  for  a  Baptiss." 

Having  thus  given  vent  to  his  feelings,  in  imitation 
of  Cicero's  immortal  philippic  against  Catiline,  he  pro- 
ceeded with  more  deliberation  and  at  great  length  to 
review  the  entire  ground  that  had  been  traveled  over 
by  his  theological  assailant. 

The  grasshopper,  the  'possum,  and  all  the  other 
strong  points  were  taken  up  and  disposed  of  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  his  brethren.  The  stunning  blows 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          271 

that  lie  had  dealt  in  his  opening  passage  were  followed 
by  others,  scarcely  less  telling,  all  the  way  through  to 
the  peroration.  Already  he  saw  in  the  faces  of  his 
audience  undoubted  evidence  of  the  success  of  his 
efforts,  and  he  was  flushed  with  victory.  His  tone 
became  triumphant,  if  not  overbearing.  His  bitterness 
and  severity  would  surely  have  been  entirely  inexcusa 
ble,  but  for  the  excitement  he  was  under  from  the  ter- 
rible provocation.  That  "  grasshopper  "  comparison  was 
the  most  damaging  assault  upon  Methodism,  the  most 
crushing  blow  to  Arminianism,  that  he  had  ever  been 
called  upon  to  repel,  in  all  the  long  years  of  his  min- 
istry. That  of  itself  was  enough  to  fire  all  the  blood 
of  this  old  theological  war-horse.  And  then  to  follow 
that  with  the  "  'possum  " — that  was  the  crowning  indig- 
nity— that  was  a  Calvinistic  blow  administered  to  an 
already  crushed  and  fallen  foe,  which  Nathan's  Armin- 
ian  blood  was  fired  to  punish  to  the  very  utmost  ex- 
tent of  his  power.  In  Nathan's  intense  admiration  for 
his  Master  he  had,  with  the  extraordinary  imitative  pow- 
ers of  his  race,  taken  on,  in  addition  to  the  clerical,  a 
very  decided  military  bearing.  In  his  composite  charac- 
ter, he  represented  the  dignity  of  the  bishop  and  the  bold- 
ness and  dash  of  the  successful  general.  He  was,  there- 
fore, a  very  striking  representative  of  the  "  church  mili- 
tant," and  he  put  into  the  remainder  of  his  defense 
the  concentrated  polemical  power  of  the  two  profes- 
sions. He  proceeded : 


272  I*  THE  BRUSH. 

"  De  Baptiss,  my  bruddren,  is  in  such  a  gone  case, 
dev  is  in  such  a  mighty  tight  fix,  dat  de  ole  Bible — de 
Bible  dat  all  de  faders  and  mudders  have  gone  to  heaven 
wid — de  Bible  dat  dey  used  to  love  such  a  heap — de 
ole  Bible  dat  fill  us  wid  de  hebbenly  fire  all  de  way 
along  de  road  to  Canaan — dat  ole  Bible,  my  bruddren, 
is  no  account  any  more  to  de  Baptiss,  and  dey  say  dat 
the  Baptiss  is  a  gwine  to  get  up  a  new  deversion.  In 
de  ole  Bible  it  reads,  if  my  memory  sarve  me,  'In 
dose  days  came  John  de  Baptiss.'  Dey  say  in  de  new 
deversion  its  gwine  to  read,  'In  dose  days  came  John 
de  Iinmerser' — ''taint  dar,  my  bruddren.  In  de  ole 
Bible  it  reads,  if  my  memory  sarve  me,  '  He  shall 
baptize  you  wid  de  Holy  Ghost  and  wid  de  fire.'  Dey 
say  dat  in  de  new  deversion  it's  gwine  to  read,  'He 
shall  immerse  you  wid  de  Holy  Ghost  and  wid  de 
fire ' — tairft  dar,  my  bruddren  !  Immersin'  wid  fire, 
my  bruddren  ! — immersin'  wid  fire !  Who  ever  read 
in  de  Bible  'bout  immersin'  wid  fire,  only  deni  chil'en 
of  de  three  Hebrewsers?  Dey  was  immersed  wid  fire 
— dem  three  Hebrewsers  dat  was  put  into  de  furnace, 
heated  seven  times  hot  by  de  dedict  of  Xebuckefalus 
— what  you  call  'em  now"  (scratching  his  head) — 
"  Shamrack,  Shimshack,  and  Bedgone.  Dey  ar  all  dat 
we  read  in  de  Bible  'bout  bein'  immersed  wid  fire." 

This  was  the  finishing  blow.  Kathan  sat  down. 
The  excitement  and  joy  of  his  brethren  were  unbound- 
ed. They  shouted,  danced,  shook  hands,  hugged,  and 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          273 

yielded  themselves  up  to  that  perfect  luxury  of  excited, 
joyous  feeling  of  which  they  alone  seem  capable. 

My  esteemed  friend  the  late  Rev.  W.  W.  Hill, 
D.  D.,  to  whom  my  readers  are  indebted  for  the  story 
of  the  candidate  and  his  Greek  quotations,  gave  me 
the  following  facts,  illustrating  the  argumentative 
power  of  an  old-time  slave  preacher: 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Doctor's  ministry  he 
was  for  several  years  the  pastor  of  a  church  that  had 
been  founded  in  the  early  history  of  the  State,  and 
ministered  to  for  a  lifetime  by  a  distinguished  Scotch 
minister.  He  had  indoctrinated  the  entire  community, 
and  built  up  a  very  strong  Presbyterian  church.  Dr. 
Hill,  who  was  a  native  of  the  State,  and  greatly  in- 
terested in  the  colored  people,  was  very  often  invited 
to  preach  to  a  colored  Baptist  church  in  the  afternoon, 
which  he  always  did  with  the  greatest  pleasure.  It  is 
perhaps  not  known  to  all  my  readers  that  the  slaves 
always  assumed  and  stoutly  maintained  among  them- 
selves the  relative  social  rank  and  position  of  their 
masters.  If  the  master  was  a  President,  Governor, 
Member  of  Congress,  Judge,  or  a  man  of  large 
wealth,  all  his  slaves  participated  in  his  honors,  and 
often  bore  them  more  conspicuously  and  proudly  than 
he  did. 

It  so  happened  that  in  Dr.  Hill's  congregation  the 
families  of  highest  social  position  were  Presbyterians. 
Some  of  the  slaves,  quite  naturally  for  them,  got  the 


274  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

impression  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  "  de 
'ristoratic  church,"  and  thought  it  would  be  a  nice 
tiling  if  they  could  have  a  Presbyterian  church  for 
the  colored  people.  But  they  were  all  thoroughly  in- 
doctrinated in  the  Baptist  creed — and  there  was  the 
rub.  "  Christ  went  down  into  the  water,  and  came 
up  out  of  the  water."  That,  in  their  minds,  was  the 
hard  thing  to  be  overcome.  But  the  desire  to  attain 
social  elevation  through  church  relations  has  often 
caused  other  than  colored  people  to  make  extraor- 
dinary struggles,  and  they  were  willing  to  put  forth 
the  effort.  After  many  conferences  upon  the  subject 
among  themselves,  they  concluded  to  invite  Dr.  Hill 
to  preach  on  the  subject  of  baptism,  and  explain  and 
defend  the  Presbyterian  views.  They  accordingly 
called  on  him,  and  presented  their  request,  which  sur- 
prised him  very  much.  He  said  to  them  : 

"I  have  preached  for  you,  whenever  you  have  in- 
vited me,  for  several  years,  and  you  all  know  that 
I  have  never  said  one  word  upon  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism. I  do  not  like  to  do  it  now.  The  people  will 
not  understand  it,  and  will  think  I  am  trying  to  prose- 
lyte you." 

But  they  told  him  that  they  had  been  appointed 
a  committee  to  invite  him  to  preach  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  that  it  would  be  understood  by  all  that  he 
preached  on  baptism  at  their  request.  Upon  this 
statement  he  accepted  the  invitation  and  afterward 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          275 

preached  for  them  as  requested.  But  his  effort  was  a 
decided  failure ;  he  did  not  "  move  de  difficulties." 
"  Christ  went  down  into  the  water,  and  came  up  out 
of  the  water."  That  was  still  the  great  stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  the  organization  of  a  Presby- 
terian church  for  the  colored  people.  Some  weeks 
afterward  Judge  Green,  of  Danville,  Kentucky,  drove 
over  in  his  family  carriage  to  make  a  visit  and 
spend  a  Sabbath  with  some  of  his  friends  in  this 
congregation. 

It  soon  became  noised  abroad  among  the  slaves 
that  the  driver  of  this  distinguished  jurist  was  not 
only,  like  his  master,  a  Presbyterian,  but  he  was  a 
noted  Presbyterian  preacher.* 

The  committee  who  had  invited  Dr.  Hill  to  make 
the  effort  that  proved  so  unsuccessful,  at  once  waited 
upon  their  distinguished  visitor,  and  invited  him  to 
preach  to  them  upon  the  subject  of  baptism.  He  was 
from  Danville,  the  seat  of  a  Presbyterian  college,  the 
Jerusalem  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Kentucky. 
Hence  -the  honor  of  that  Church  among  the  colored 
people  of  that  State  was  largely  in  his  keeping,  and 
he  appreciated  his  responsibilities.  He  accepted  the 
invitation  promptly,  and,  like  the  Rev.  Nathan  Board, 


*  I  do  not  know  that  I  need  to  say  that  these  slave  preachers  were  not 
regularly  licensed  and  ordained  by  any  ecclesiastical  body.  They  simply 
assumed  the  profession,  and  were  recognized  as  preachers  among  their  own 
people. 


276  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

he  was  confident  and  eager  to  stand  forth  as  the 
champion  of  his  church.  He  was  greeted  with  a  large 
congregation,  and  his  effort  was  a  decided  success. 

Some  days  after,  Dr.  Hill  met  some  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  said  to  them : 

"  I  understand  that  this  colored  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter from  Danville  preached  on  baptism  last  Sunday,  and 
that  he  has  made  the  whole  matter  entirely  clear  and 
satisfactory  to  you  all." 

They  assured  him  that  that  was  true. 

"Now,"  said  the  Doctor,  "that  seems  very  strange 
to  me.  You  all  profess  to  like  my  preaching,  and  are 
generally  full  of  compliments  and  thanks  for  my  ser- 
mons. I  have  done  my  very  best  for  you  on  this  sub- 
ject of  baptism.  I  have  told  you  all  I  know — all  I  have 
learned  from  Hebrew  and  Greek — and  it  did  not  do  one 
bit  of  good.  And  now  this  colored  minister  from  Dan- 
ville preaches  to  you,  and  beats  me  entirely.  He  makes 
the  whole  subject  plain  and  satisfactory  to  you.  Can 
you  tell  me  what  he  said  ?  " 

"Oh,  yes,  yes,  yes!"  they  responded.  "His  tex' 
was,  'My  sheep  hears  my  voice,  and  I  knows  them, 
and  dey  follows  me.'  Den  he  said,  'In  de  Bible  de 
Christians  is  de  sheep.'  He  had  a  heap  of  Bible  on 
dat  p'int,  and  he  preached  a  mighty  long  time  and 
make  dat  so  strong,  no  nigger  can't  'spute  it.  And 
den  he  said,  mighty  strong,  '  Now,  my  bruddren  and 
sisters,  you  all  knows  you  can't  get  a  sheep  into  de  wa- 


OLD-TIME  ILLITERATE  PREACHERS.          277 

ter   nohow,   'less  you  cotch    him   and   carries  him  in.' 
And,  preacher,  you  knows  dat  is  so  yourself." 

I  give  these  truthful  sketches  of  old-time  slave 
preachers  and  preaching  in  the  hope  that  others  may 
follow  my  example,  and  preserve  as  many  as  possible  of 
these  illustrations  of  a  state  of  things  now  rapidly  pass- 
ing away,  through  the  labors  of  an  educated  ministry. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

"  OKTONVILLE "  ;     OR,    THE     UNIVERSAL     POWER     OF     SACKED 

SONG. 

I  HAVE  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  circumstances 
of  my  first  acquaintance  with  "  Ortonville,"  a  piece  of 
sacred  music  by  the  late  Professor  Thomas  Hastings. 
It  was  more  than  forty  years  ago.  The  church  choir 
in  my  native  place,  a  small  country  village  in  western 
New  York,  had  gone  down  to  that  sad  pass,  that  for 
several  Sabbaths  the  alternative  was  either  to  have  no 
singing  at  all,  or  a  maiden  lady,  a  veteran  member  of 
the  choir,  must  "pitch  the  tune."  This,  even  in  the 
estimation  of  the  most  staid  and  least  nervous  of  the 
congregation,  was  quite  too  bad;  and  the  matter  was 
taken  up  and  talked  over  in  earnest  at  the  village  store, 
where  all  matters  public  and  private  pertaining  to  the 
neighborhood  and  town  were  discussed,  and  public  senti- 
ment on  all  questions  was  regulated,  like  the  price  of 
stocks  at  a  board  of  brokers.  The  result  of  this  discus- 
sion was,  that  a  subscription-paper  was  started,  and  a 


UNIVERSAL  POWER   OF  SACRED  SONG.       279 

singing-master  employed  for  one  evening  each  week 
during  the  winter,  who,  according  to  immemorial  custom, 
was  paid  three  dollars  an  evening  for  his  services,  and 
the  school  was  free  to  all  who  were  disposed  to  attend. 

A  country  singing-school  —  who,  that  has  ever  at- 
tended one,  is  not  carried  back  to  some  of  the  most 
delightful  scenes  of  his  earlier  years  by  the  mere  men- 
tion of  the  name?  What  visions  of  early  playmates 
and  schoolmates,  of  bright  moonlight  rides,  with  the 
merry  chimes  of  bells  and  shouts  of  joyous  hearts,  as 
group  after  group  from  different  families  was  gathered 
for  the  school,  and  crowded  into  the  capacious  sleigh — 
mothers'  warm,  home-made  mittens,  stockings,  and  flan- 
nels, and  all  the  buffalo-robes  in  the  neighborhood,  bid- 
ding defiance  to  an  atmosphere  at  zero !  And  then  the 
frank,  unstudied  greetings  and  companionship  at  the  vil- 
lage church ;  the  lighting  of  candles  that  each  one  had 
brought  from  home  (no  lamps  or  sextons  in  those  days) ; 
the  first  essays,  of  each  pupil  alone,  at  the  ascending 
and  descending  scale,  with  this  one's  failure  and  that 
one's  success ;  the  coquettings  and  rivalries  of  the  "  in- 
termission," and  the  successful  and  unsuccessful  offers 
of  the  youthful  beaux  to  "  go  home  with  the  girls "  at 
the  close  of  the  school — these  and  a  thousand  other 
pleasant  memories  come  thronging  upon  the  mind  at 
the  remembrance  of  a  country  singing-school ! 

We  had  spent  several  evenings  upon  the  rudiments, 
singing  from  the  blackboard;  the  teacher  had  decided 


280  I&  THE  BRUSH. 

that  the  old  books  would  not  do  (what  singing-school 
teacher  since  that  day,  in  view  of  his  commissions  on 
the  new  book,  has  failed  to  reach  the  same  conclusion  ?) ; 
and  we  had  obtained  the  "  Manhattan  Collection,"  which 
was  just  then  a  candidate  for  public  favor.  Several 
of  the  old  members  of  the  choir  were  standing  in  a 
group,  during  an  "intermission,"  expressing  their  opin- 
ions on  the  merits  of  the  new  book,  when  Deacon  Ar- 
nold said  to  the  teacher : 

"  Here  is  a  new  tune  I  should  like  to  have  you  look 
at — '  Ortonville.'  I  have  hummed  it  over,  and  it  seems 
a  very  good  one." 

The  teacher  glanced  over  it,  said  they  would  try 
it,  and  very  soon  the  school  were  singing — 

"Majestic  sweetness  sits  enthroned," 

as  those  words  have  been  sung  a  thousand  times  to 
the  sweet  and  simple  notes  of — 

ORTONVILLE.      C.  M.  THOMAS  HASTINGS,  Mus.  Doc. 


Ma  -  Jes  -  tic  sweet-ness    Bits    enthroned  Up- on     the  Sav - ionr's  brow  :  His 


head  with  radiant  glory  crowned,  His  lips  with  grace  o'erflow,  His  lips  with  grace  o'ei  flow. 


UNIVERSAL  POWER   OF  SACRED  SONG.       281 

Such  was  my  first  acquaintance  with  this  piece  of 
sacred  music.  Little  did  I  then  think  that  it  was  an 
acquaintance  I  was  to  meet  in  such  different  and  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  world,  in  so  many  and  such  varied 
circumstances,  and  that  was  to  afford  me  such  peculiar 
pleasure. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  "Ortonville"  became  at 
once  a  favorite  with  our  school.  The  new  scholars 
were  most  apt  to  strike  upon  it,  if  they  happened  to 
be  in  a  mood  for  singing,  as  they  were  busy  at  their 
winter's  tasks— rfoddering  the  cattle  and  other  stock  at 
the  barn,  watering  the  horses,  carrying  in  the  wood 
for  the  evening  and  morning  fires  in  the  ample  old- 
fashioned  fireplaces,  or  doing  any  little  chores  about 
the  house. 

The  teacher  was  pretty  sure  to  select  it  if  the  min- 
ister or  influential  members  of  the  congregation  came 
in  to  see  how  the  school  was  getting  along;  as,  some- 
how, they  always  seemed  to  be  in  better  time  and 
tune,  and  do  more  for  the  credit  of  the  school,  and 
the  satisfaction  of  those  who  had  raised  the  subscrip- 
tion, when  they  sang  this,  than  in  singing  any  other 
•tune.  Yery  soon  it  was  sung  everywhere,  and  those* 
who  could  sing  at  all  had  learned  it  by  rote,  at  least, 
as  a  necessity.  The  choir  were  not  only  better  satis- 
fied with  themselves,  but  the  minister  seemed  to  preach 
with  more  animation,  when  "Ortonville"  was  sung 
upon  the  Sabbath,  and  prayer-meetings  that  were  dull 


282  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

and  uninteresting  would  take  a  new  start  when  "  Or- 
tonville"  was  started.  For  not  only  all  the  new  sing- 
ers could  sing,  but  all  the  old  men  and  women  who 
had  been  members  of  the  choir  when  the  country  was 
first  settled,  and  the  hardy  Puritan  pioneers,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  a  minister,  had  what  were  called  "  deacon- 
meetings,"  the  schoolmaster,  or  whoever  was  regarded 
as  the  best  reader  in  the  settlement,  reading  a  sermon. 

It  was  not  long  before  it  was  found  out  that  we 
were  not  alone  in  our  admiration  of  the  new  favorite. 
In  the  adjoining  towns,  wherever  the  singing-schools 
were  using  the  "  Manhattan  Collection,"  they  had  fallen 
upon  this  tune  and  were  singing  it  just  as  we  were. 

Before  our  singing- school  closed  I  left  home  to  pur- 
sue my  academic,  collegiate,  and  theological  studies,  and 
for  a  few  years  following,  in  connection  with  my  resi- 
dence at  different  places,  and  my  travels  in  different 
Northern  States,  I  again  and  again  had  opportunities 
of  observing  that  in  cities  as  well  as  in  the  country, 
in  centers  of  intelligence  and  refinement  as  well  as  at 
my  rural  home,  there  was  something  in  "  Ortonville " 
calculated  to  interest  nearly  every  class  of  mind,  and 
make  it,  as  soon  as  it  was  known  in  any  place,  a  popular 
favorite. 

"With  these  elements,  and  our  national  habit  of  never 
sparing  our  favorites,  but  pressing  them  into  service  for 
the  time,  ad  nauseam,  those  who  heard  it  once  in  any 
place  were  sure  to  hear  it,  to  say  the  least,  until  they 


UNIVERSAL  POWER   OF  SACRED  SONG.       283 

"  had  heard  enough  of  it,"  and  then  it  was  consigned  to 
comparative  neglect. 

For  a  long  time  I  had  heard  it  but  rarely ;  the  feel- 
ing of  dislike  at  its  frequent  repetition  had  worn  off, 
and  it  again  possessed  not  only  its  original  interest,  but 
was  thick  clustering  with  pleasant  memories  of  home, 
and  many  of  the  happiest  scenes  of  my  life.  I  was  at 
length  in  the  interior  of  a  distant  Southern  State,  an  in- 
valid, alone,  and  doubtful  of  the  future.  Sabbath  came, 
and  with  kind,  new-found  friends,  I  rode  through  the 
pines  over  a  sandy  road  to  a  plain,  unpainted  church, 
standing  in  the  midst  of  a  piny  wood,  and  bearing  the 
name  "  Mount  Zion."  In  the  rear  of  this  building,  com- 
fortably seated  and  sheltered,  a  large  congregation  of 
slaves  was  assembled,  who  were  listening  to  the  in- 
structions of  an  earnest  and  faithful  minister  of  the 
gospel.  He  had  just  finished  reading  a  hymn  as  I 
reached  the  place,  and  an  old  negro  slave  rose  to  lead 
the  singing.  The  lines  were  given  out  one  by  one, 
and  as  every  voice  in  that  large  company  seemed  to 
join  in  the  song,  never  did  "  Ortonville "  sound  more 
sweetly  than  as  it  then  broke  unexpectedly  upon  my 
ear.  With  their  rich,  melodious  voices,  and  the  en- 
thusiasm peculiar  to  the  African,  they  seemed  to  pour 
out  all  their  souls,  and,  as  they  sang  through  the  hymn, 
and  those  familiar  sounds  resounded  through  the  grove, 
the  effect  upon  my  feelings  can  be  more  easily  imag- 
ined than  described. 


284  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

During  my  stay  in  this  neighborhood,  a  slave  died 
upon  one  of  the  plantations,  and  I  was  told  that  I 
would  have  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  one  of  their 
favorite  funerals.  In  those  portions  of  the  South 
where  the  plantations  were  largest,  and  the  slaves  the 
most  numerous,  they  were  very  fond  of  burying  their 
dead  at  night,  and  as  near  midnight  as  possible.  In 
case  of  a  funeral,  they  assembled  in  large  numbers 
from  adjoining  plantations,  provided  with  pine-knots, 
and  pieces  of  fat  pine  called  light-wood,  which  when 
ignited  made  a  blaze  compared  with  which  our  city 
torch-light  processions  are  most  sorry  affairs.  "When 
.all  was  in  readiness,  they  lighted  these  torches,  formed 
into  a  procession,  and  marched  slowly  to  the  distant 
grave,  singing  the  most  solemn  music.  Sometimes  they 
sang  hymns  they  had  committed  to  memory,  but  often- 
er  those  more  tender  and  plaintive,  composed  by  them- 
selves, that  have  since  been  introduced  to  the  people 
of  the  North,  and  of  Europe,  as  plantation  melodies. 
I  have  never  yet  seen  any  statement  of  the  manner  in 
which  these  melodies,  that  have  moved  and  melted 
the  hearts  of  millions  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
were  composed.  I  have  been  familiar  with  the  secret 
of  their  birth  and  power  since  my  first  acquaintance 
with,  and  religious  labors  among,  the  slaves  in  1843. 
It  is  preeminently  true  of  these  plantation  melodies 
that  they  were  "born,  not  made."  I  have  been  pres- 
ent at  the  birth  of  a  great  many  of  them — many  that 


An  old-time  midnight  slave  funeral. 


UNIVERSAL  POWER   OF  SACRED  SONG.       285 

I  think  more  tender  and  pathetic  than  those  that  have 
been  given  to  the  world  by  the  various  jubilee-singers. 
In  their  religious  gatherings  the  best  singer  among 
them  was  always  the  leader  of  the  meeting.  They 
usually  commenced  their  services  by  singing  some 
hymn  that  they  had  committed  to  memory ;  but  the 
leader  always  gave  out  this  hymn,  one  line  at  a  time, 
in  a  sing-song  tone,  much  like  a  chant,  and  then  the 
audience  sang  the  line  he  had  given  out,  and  so  went 
through  the  hymn.  As  the  meeting  progressed,  and 
their  feelings  became  deeper  and  deeper,  and  the 
excitement  rose  higher  and  higher,  they  at  length 
reached  a  state  of  tender  or  rapturous  feeling  to  which 
no  hymn  with  which  they  were  familiar  gave  expres- 
sion. At  this  point  the  leader  sang  from  his  heart, 
or,  as  musicians  say,  improvised,  both  the  words  and 
music  of  a  single  line.  The  audience  then  sang  that 
line  with  him,  as  they  had  sung  all  the  preceding 
hymns.  lie  then  improvised  another  line,  and  another, 
and  they  sang  each  one  after  him,  until  he  had  im- 
provised one  of  those  plantation  melodies,  which,  as 
they  gave  expression  to  the  glowing  hearts  of  those 
who  first  sang  them,  so,  when  they  have  been  repeated, 
they  have  touched  the  universal  heart.  When  thus 
"born,"  no  such  words  or  music  were  ever  forgotten 
by  the  leader.  It  was  sung  over  and  over  again  at 
succeeding  meetings,  until  some  other  melody  was  in 
like  manner  improvised,  to  meet  another  and  perhaps 


286  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

a  higher  state  of  religious  enthusiasm.  In  my  visits 
to  hundreds  of  different  plantations  and  congregations, 
I  have  heard  a  great  variety  of  these  plantation  melo- 
dies. Many  of  them,  that  were  inexpressibly  tender 
and  beautiful,  were  never  heard  beyond  the  immedi- 
ate neighborhood  in  which  they  were  first  sung,  and 
will  never  be  reproduced,  unless  it  be  among  the  songs 
of  the  redeemed  in  heaven. 

But  to  return  to  this  midnight  funeral.  The  ap- 
pearance of  such  a  procession,  winding  through  the 
fields  and  woods,  as  revealed  by  their  flaming  torches, 
marching  slowly  to  the  sound  of  their  wild  music,  was 
weird  and  imposing  in  the  highest  degree.  This  pro- 
cession was  to  pass  immediately  by  our  door,  but,  in 
order  to  get  a  fuller  view,  a  small  company  of  us  went 
out  a  short  distance  to  meet  them.  We  saw  them  and 
heard  their  music  in  the  distance,  as  they  came  down 
a  gentle  descent,  crossed  over  a  small  stream,  and  then 
marched  on  some  time  in  silence.  As  they  came  near 
where  we  stood,  we  heard  their  leader  announce  in  the 
sing-song,  chanting  style  I  have  already  described,  the 
words-  - 

"  When  I  can  read  my  title  clear ; " 

and  that  long  procession,  with  their  flaming  fat-pine 
torches,  marched  by  us  with  slow  and  solemn  tread, 
singing  that  beautiful  hymn  to  the  tune  of  "Orton- 
ville."  We  followed  to  the  place  of  burial,  listened 


UNIVERSAL  POWER   OF  SACRED  SONG.       287 

to  their  songs  and  addresses  at  the  grave,  and  wit- 
nessed all  the  ceremonies  to  the  close.  From  first  to 
last  the  scene  was  impressive  beyond  description. 

A  few  days  after  this,  as  I  was  taking  a  lonely 
horseback-ride  to  an  adjoining  parish,  I  heard  the  ne- 
groes singing  in  a  field  that  I  could  not  see,  lying 
behind  a  wood  that  skirted  the  road.  I  stopped  my 
horse  for  a  moment  to  listen  to  their  music.  I  could 
hear  no  words,  but  at  once  distinguished  "  Ortonville." 
Soon  after  I  inquired  of  my  host  how  long  these  peo- 
ple had  been  singing  this  tune,  and  where  they  had 
learned  it;  and  was  told  that  the  minister  I  had  seen 
upon  the  Sabbath,  while  on  a  visit  to  his  relatives  in 
the  State  of  Georgia  the  fall  before,  had  heard  it  sung 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Synod,  and  was  so  much  pleased 
with  it  that  he  procured  a  copy,  and  in  that  manner 
it  had  been  introduced  to  this  place  and  the  places  ad- 
jacent. At  one  of  those  places  I  was  told  that  they 
were  so  much  pleased  with  it  that  they  had  sung  it 
over  and  over  one  Sabbath-day  during  the  entire  in- 
termission. 

Time  passed  on,  and  in  my  invalid  wanderings  I 
was  within  the  tropics,  sailing  in  the  track  of  Colum- 
bus, along  the  north  shore  of  Ilayti.  Entering  those 
waters,  so  often  tinged  with  human  blood,  that  divide 
this  island  from  the  famed  Tortugas,  as  if  in  harmony 
with  the  dark  memories  that  crowded  upon  the  mind, 
black  clouds  began  to  darken  the  heavens,  the  thunders 


288  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

rolled,  the  lightnings  gleamed  with  terrific  fury,  and 
amid  the  most  sublime  tumult  of  the  elements  we  were 
carried  along  until  our  little  craft  dropped  anchor  in 
the  bay  of  Port  de  Paix.  The  storm  and  darkness 
were  such  that  I  could  not  go  ashore,  and  I  was  that 
night  rocked  to  sleep  on  waters  where  many  a  pirate- 
ship,  with  bloody  deck,  had  ridden  securely  at  anchor, 
and  prepared  to  set  forth  again  on  new  missions  of 
pillage  and  death.  This  harbor  was  the  chief  rendez- 
vous, the  refuge  from  danger,  and  retreat  from  toil,  of 
the  buccaneers  that  for  years  infested  these  seas,  and 
whose  piratical  plunderings  for  so  long  a  time  made 
their  names  a  terror  to  all  within  their  reach.  How- 
ever, not  being  particularly  superstitious,  I  slept  sound- 
ly for  the  night. 

In  the  morning  I  left  our  little  vessel  and  received 
—what  is  ever  so  grateful  to  a  wanderer  on  a  foreign 
shore,  and  especially  to  one  who  has  any  sympathy 
with  the  command,  "  Go  teach  all  nations  " — a  welcome 
to  the  residence  of  a  countryman,  to  a  missionary's 
humble  home.  Ay,  noble  men  and  women  are  they, 
who,  forgetful  of  themselves,  and  alone  for  the  honor 
of  the  Master  that  they  serve,  leaving  the  comforts 
and  amenities  of  a  Christian  civilization,  toil  on  through 
life  amid  manifold  discouragements,  endeavoring  to  in- 
struct and  elevate  the  degraded,  and,  above  all  else, 
anxious  to 

"  Allure  to  brighter  worlds  and  lead  the  way." 


UNIVERSAL  POWER   OF  SACRED  SONG.       289 

And  yet,  like  those  whose  own  minds  are  so  degraded 
and  debauched  that  they  can  not  conceive  of  purity 
and  virtue  in  any  character,  there  are  those  who  are 
so  utterly  ignorant  and  unconscious  of  the  lofty  sen- 
timents that  animate  these  self-sacrificing  missionaries, 
that  they  are  ever  finding,  in  base,  unworthy,  and  ig- 
noble objects,  the  grand  motive  of  their  life-work. 
Such  may  well  ponder  the  life  of  unparalleled  Chris- 
tian heroism  of  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  of 
which  the  undoubted  and  sufficient  motive  was  a  con- 
straining LOVE! 

Evening  darkened  around  the  dwelling  of  the  mis- 
sionary, and  a  little  group  of  natives  assembled  for 
religious  worship.  I  sat  in  that  little  room  and  listened 
to  the  words  of  instruction,  praise,  and  prayer,  with 
indescribably  strange  emotions,  for  all  was  in  a  language 
that  I  did  not  understand.  As  the  services  proceeded,  a 
hymn  was  read  by  the  missionary  with  peculiar  interest 
and  emotion,  and  the  dark  group  sang  in  the  familiar 
strains  of  "  Ortonville  "  : 

"  Beni  soit  Men  qui  chaque  jour 

Nous  comble  de  ses  biens, 
Et  dont  s'inconvenable  amour 
A  romptu  nos  liens." 

What  a  change — what  a  change !  The  haunts  of 
bloody  pirates  giving  place  to  the  home  of  the  mission- 
ary of  the  cross;  the  wild,  agonized  shrieks  of  their 


290  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

murdered  victims  succeeded  by  the  sweet  and  peaceful 
notes  of  "  Ortonville ! "  And  so  this  tune  has  often  been 
sung  where  sounds  of  direst  woe  and  wretchedness  had 
long  been  heard,  and  so  it  doubtless  will  be,  and  onward 
to  the  millennium. 

As  I  once  returned  from  a  small  church  on  the 
banks  of  the  Savannah  River,  where  it  had  been  sung, 
the  friend  whose  hospitality  I  was  enjoying  remarked : 

"My  brother-in-law,  a  missionary,  told  me  he  first 
heard  that  tune,  and  since  had  often  sung  it,  on  Mount 
Zion,  in  Jerusalem,  and  it  sounded  most  sweetly  there." 

And  thus  it  has  been  sung  in  many  a  land  and  clime 
by  that  heroic  missionary  band  which  now  encircles  the 
globe  with  celestial  light. 

But  this  narrative  would  swell  to  a  volume  were  I 
to  relate  in  detail  all  the  sweet,  sacred,  and  delightful 
memories  associated  with  "  Ortonville."  In  all  my  long 
invalid  wanderings,  and  in  all  the  years  in  which  I  have 
been  permitted  to  labor  actively  in  the  Master's  service, 
both  "  in  the  Brush "  and  elsewhere,  it  has  often  been 
my  happy  lot  to  recognize  and  greet  in  the  most  varied 
and  striking  circumstances  the  favorite  I  first  learned 
to  love  in  that  country  singing-school.  Its  gentle,  sooth- 
ing notes  have  broken  sweetly  upon  my  ear  in  crowded 
city  churches ;  in  quiet  meetings  for  prayer  ;  in  large,  un- 
paiuted,  barn-like  edifices  erected  for  Christian  sanctua- 
ries; in  rude  log  churches  crowded  with  devout  wor- 
shipers; in  basket-meetings,  camp-meetings,  and  in  all 


UNIVERSAL  POWER  OF  SACRED  SONG.       291 

varieties  of  gatherings  for  the  worship  of  Almighty  God. 
Often,  very  often,  it  has  inspired  my  devotions  as  I  have 
mingled,  for  the  first  time,  with  households  gathered 
for  family  worship.  "With  adoring  recognition  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God,  and  with  loving  recognition  of  the 
brotherhood  of  man,  it  has  been  my  happy,  happy  lot 
thus  to  worship  with  uncounted  hundreds  of  families 
— among  them  the  most  cultivated  and  refined,  and  the 
most  ignorant,  neglected,  and  lowly  of  God's  poor.  In 
very  long  horseback-journeys,  for  days,  weeks,  and 
months  together,  as  I  have  ridden  over  bleak,  desolate 
"  barrens,"  through  dense,  dark  forests,  along  deep,  nar- 
row ravines  and  valleys,  and  up  and  over  rough  and  rug- 
ged mountains,  nearly  every  night  has  found  me  under 
a  different  roof,  enjoying  the  rough  or  refined  hospitality 
of  a  new-found  family.  As  they  have  invited  me  to 
"  take  the  books  "  (the  Bible  and  hymn-book)  and  lead 
the  devotions  of  the  family,  often  in  the  most  remote 
and  lowly  cabins,  I  have  been  surprised  and  delighted,  as 
I  was  in  the  tropics,  with  the  familiar  notes  of  "  Orton- 
ville." 

As  I  write  these  lines  my  memory  is  far  more  busy 
than  my  pen.  I  think  of  my  wanderings  in  many  dif- 
ferent States,  and  of  the  cabins  in  which  I  have  briefly 
rehearsed  the  old,  old  story,  and  by  kind  words  of  en- 
treaty, and  in  reverent  words  of  prayer,  attempted  to 
"  allure  to  brighter  worlds,  and  lead  the  way."  I  have 
knelt  in  prayer  in  many  a  home  along  the  banks  of  the 


292  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

Rappahannock,  the  James,  the  Cape  Fear,  the  Santee, 
the  Savannah,  the  Tennessee,  the  Cumberland,  the  Ohio, 
the  Mississippi,  the  Missouri,  the  San  Joaquin,  the  Sac- 
ramento, and  many  other  rivers.  So  I  have  knelt  and 
prayed  in  homes  along  the  shores  of  the  stormy  Atlan- 
tic and  the  peaceful  Pacific.  Yery  often  the  inmates, 
at  first  startled,  and  then  delighted,  by  the  strangeness 
of  my  visit,  have  told  me  that  my  voice  was  the  first 
ever  lifted  in  prayer  beneath  their  roofs.  Though  in 
multitudes  of  such  homes  no  member  of  the  family  had 
ever  learned  a  single  letter  of  the  alphabet  of  their 
mother-tongue,  and  all  were  barefooted,  and  more  desti- 
tute and  ignorant  than  the  most  of  my  readers  will 
be  able  to  conceive,  they  have  received  me  in  their 
homes  with  a  hospitality  so  hearty  and  cordial,  and  have 
thanked  me,  and  bidden  me  come  again,  with  such 
warm  words  and  such  abounding  tears,  that  my  own 
have  welled  and  flowed  responsive  to  theirs;  and  as  I 
have  spoken  my  farewell  words,  so  often  final,  and  rid- 
den away  with  new  impressions  of  the  power  of  the 
Saviour's  name  and  love  to  touch  and  melt  the  rudest 
minds,  my  happy  heart  has  found  full  expression  in 
the  tender  notes  and  sweet  words  of  my  favorite  tune 
and  hymn: 

"  Majestic  sweetness  sits  enthroned 

Upon  the  Saviour's  brow ; 
His  head  with  radiant  glories  crowned, 
His  lips  with  grace  o'erflow. 


UNIVERSAL  POWER   OF  SACRED  SONG.       293 

"  No  mortal  can  with  him  compare, 

Among  the  sons  of  men; 
Fairer  is  he  than  all  the  fair 
Who  fill  the  heavenly  train. 

"  He  saw  me  plunged  in  deep  distress, 

And  flew  to  my  relief; 
For  me  he  bore  the  shameful  cross, 
And  carried  all  my  grief. 

"  Since  from  his  bounty  I  receive 

Such  proofs  of  love  divine, 
Had  I  a  thousand  hearts  to  give, 
Lord,  they  should  all  be  thine." 

NOTE. — Returning  from  one  of  my  visits  to  Hayti,  more  than  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  I  communicated  to  Professor  Hastings,  at  his  old  home  in 
Amity  Street,  New  York,  several  of  the  facts  related  in  this  chapter.  He 
then  gave  me  the  history  of  the  tune  as  follows : 

"  I  was  anxious  to  write  just  as  simple  a  tune  as  possible,  to  be  sung 
by  children.  I  sat  at  my  instrument,  and  played,  until  this  tune  was  com- 
pletely formed  in  my  mind. 

"  Not  long  after,  a  boy  came  from  the  printer  with  a  note,  saying  he  need- 
ed another  tune  to  fill  out  a  page  or  form.  I  sat  down  at  my  instrument, 
played  it  again,  thought  it  would  do,  wrote  it  out,  and  sent  it  to  the  office, 
little  dreaming  that  I  should  hear  from  it,  as  I  have,  from  almost  every  part 
of  the  world." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

WORK   ACCOMPLISHED   IN   THE   SOUTHWEST. 

I  DO  not  propose  to  give  anything  like  a  full  account 
or  even  a  summary  of  the  work  accomplished  in  my 
special  mission  by  all  these  long  rides  and  years  of 
earnest  and  cheerful  labor  in  the  Brush.  That  has  not 
been  my  object.  It  has  been  rather  to  describe  the 
manner  of  performing  these  labors,  the  incidents  con- 
nected with  them,  and  to  portray  the  character,  man- 
ners, customs,  and  peculiarities  of  the  people  who  re- 
ceived me  so  cordially,  and  with  whom  I  mingled  so 
freely  in  their  rude  homes.  But  I  should  fail  to  give 
a  full  and  true  idea  of  their  social  and  moral  condi- 
tion, especially  as  indicated  by  their  want  of  education, 
and  their  destitution  of  Bibles,  if  I  did  not  give  some 
of  the  results  of  these  labors.  I  have  described  the 
manner  in  which  I  explored  different  counties,  organ- 
ized or  reorganized  Bible  societies,  and  secured  the 
appointment  of  distributors  to  canvass  them. 

One  of  these  men,  Mr.  Guier,  a  well-known  citizen 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  295 

of  the  county,  visited  five  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
families,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  sixty — more  than 
one  fourth — were  destitute  of  the  Bible.  They  con- 
tained four  hundred  and  thirty-five  persons.  In  sixty- 
four  of  them  either  the  husband  or  wife,  or  both  (ac- 
cording to  their  own  statements),  were  members  of 
some  Protestant  church.  Sixty-two  Bibles  and  ninety 
Testaments  were  sold,  amounting  to  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  dollars  and  eighty-five  cents;  and  thirty-three 
Bibles  and  six  Testaments  were  given  away,  amount- 
ing to  ten  dollars  and  forty  cents.  Mr.  Guier  com- 
municated to  me  the  following  facts  in  connection  with 
his  labors: 

"  I  visited  a  man  at  his  house,  and  asked  him  if 
he  had  a  Bible.  He  said  no.  I  told  him  he  ought 
to  have  one.  He  said  he  was  not  able  to  buy.  I 
told  him  that  I  could  sell  so  cheap  that  any  man 
could  buy.  He  said  he  had  not  paid  for  his  land  yet, 
and  he  had  no  time  to  read.  I  then  took  up  my 
saddle-bags  to  go,  and  offered  him  a  Bible  as  a  gift. 
He  said:  'Stop,  sir;  I  will  pay  you  for  it.  I  would 
not  have  my  neighbor  to  know  that  you  gave  me  a 
Bible.' 

"I  found  a  poor  widow  at  work  in  her  garden, 
who  told  me  she  had  no  Bible,  and  no  money  to  buy 
one  with.  She  was  a  church-member,  and  very  anx- 
ious to  have  a  Bible,  but  she  was  not  willing  to  re- 
ceive one  as  a  gift.  She  said  she  had  a  kind  neigh- 


296  IN  THE  BRUSH.    • 

bor,  who  would  always  lend  her  money  when  he  had 
it;  but  her  little  son  was  some  distance  from  home, 
at  a  blacksmith-shop,  and  she  could  not  send  for  the 
money.  As  she  was  so  anxious  to  get  a  Bible,  I  found 
her  son,  and  went  with  him  to  see  the  neighbor,  who 
loaned  her  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  to  get  the 
Bible  she  wanted.  May  God  bless  it  to  her! 

"  I  was  one  day  taken  so  sick  that  I  had  to  stop  by 
the  side  of  the  road  a  half-hour  or  more.  I  then  rode 
on  to  a  cabin,  and  told  the  lady  I  was  very  unwell, 
and  asked  if  she  could  let  me  have  a  bed  to  lie  upon. 
She  seemed  alarmed,  and  said  she  would  have  no  ob- 
jection if  her  husband  was  at  home.  I  told  her  I  was 
very  ill  and  could  not  ride,  and  that  I  was  distribut- 
ing Bibles.  She  at  once  told  me  to  get  down  and 
come  in,  and  she  nursed  me  with  the  greatest  care 
and  attention  until  her  husband  came.  On  his  arrival 
I  explained  to  him  why  I  was  there ;  and  he  said  they 
would  take  the  best  care  of  me  they  could,  which  they 
did  until  the  next  morning.  They  told  me  they  had 
no  Bible  and  no  money.  I  offered  to  pay  them  for 
keeping  me,  but  they  would  receive  no  pay.  I  then 
gave  them  a  Bible,  which  they  received  very  thank- 
fully. The  lady  was  a  church-member,  and  I  have 
heard  that  her  husband  has  since  been  converted  and 
united  with  the  church. 

"I  asked  a  man  in  a  field  if  he  had  a  Bible.  He 
said  he  did  not  know,  but  his  wife  could  tell.  I  went 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  297 

to  the  house,  and  she  told  me  they  had  no  Bible,  but 
she  was  very  anxious  to  get  one.  Her  husband  came 
in,  and  I  told  him  his  wife  had  no  Bible,  and  he 
ought  to  get  her  one.  lie  said  he  would  like  to  have 
a  Bible,  as  the  leaves  would  make  good  wadding  for 
his  gun;  and  made  a  good  many  other  remarks  of  the 
same  nature  in  regard  to  the  Bible.  His  wife  sat  and 
wept  all  the  time,  and,  as  I  thought  it  useless  to  talk 
with  him  longer,  I  prepared  to  leave,  and  she  handed 
me  the  Bible  she  had  been  looking  at.  I  told  her  to 
keep  it.  She  said  she  could  not — she  had  no  money. 
I  told  her  that  made  no  difference;  the  Bible  Society 
would  give  it  to  her.  She  was  greatly  rejoiced  at  re- 
ceiving the  unexpected  gift. 

"I  found  an  old  sailor  who  was  plowing  for  a 
neighbor  to  get  corn  for  his  family,  who  told  me  he 
had  no  Bible.  He  had  been  a  member  of  the  church 
about  two  years,  and  seemed  to  be  very  religious.  He 
was  very  glad  to  see  my  Bibles,  but  said  he  could  not 
buy  one.  He  had  no  money,  lived  on  rented  land, 
and  could  with  difficulty  support  his  family.  I  told 
him  that,  if  he  was  too  poor  to  buy,  he  was  not  too 
poor  to  read,  and  that  the  Bible  Society  enabled  me 
to  give  him  a  Bible.  He  received  it  with  aston- 
ishment and  joy,  and  praised  God  aloud  that 
he  had  lived  to  see  the  day  when  the  poor  were 
supplied  with  the  Bible  without  money  and  without 
price.  I  left  him  in  the  field,  shouting  aloud  his 


298  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

praises  to  God  that  he  now  had  the  blessed  Bible  to 
read. 

"I  saw  a  man  about  sixty  years  old,  who  had 
raised  a  large  family  and  was  now  living  with  his 
third  wife,  standing  by  his  field  and  looking  at  a  lot 
of  fine  colts.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  a  Bible,  He 
said,  No ;  he  had  no  use  for  a  Bible.  I  then  asked 
him  if  he  had  ever  had  a  Bible  in  his  family.  lie 
said,  No ;  he  had  no  use  for  a  Bible.  After  doing  my 
best  to  sell  him  a  Bible,  I  told  him  the  Bible  Society 
made  it  my  duty  to  offer  him  one  as  a  gift.  But  he 
refused  to  receive  it.  I  was  told  by  one  of  his  neigh- 
bors that  he  did  not  think  he  had  been  at  church  for 
years. 

"  The  country  I  have  visited  is  exceedingly  rough 
and  broken.  It  has  been  very  hard  work  to  climb  all 
the  hills  and  knobs,  and  hunt  up  all  the  people  scat- 
tered over  them,  and  up  and  down  the  valleys.  But 
I  have  endeavored  to  explore  it  faithfully,  and  leave 
no  family  unvisited,  and  without  the  offer  of  a  Bible. 
I  have  been  in  a  good  many  families  and  neighbor- 
hoods that  had  never  before  been  visited  by  a  Bible 
distributor.  I  was  born  in  this  county,  and  when  so- 
licited to  undertake  this  work  I  thought  it  was  entire- 
ly unnecessary.  I  had  no  idea  that  twenty  families 
could  be  found  in  the  county  without  a  Bible.  And 
now,  before  the  work  is  half  completed,  the  exploration 
reveals  such  facts  as  these." 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  299 

In  the  thorough  exploration  and  supply  of  another 
county,  Father  J.  G.  Kasey,  the  venerable  Bible  dis- 
tributor, visited  six  hundred  and  fifty-five  families,  of 
whom  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven — nearly  one  fifth 
— were  destitute  of  the  Bible.  Eight  of  the  families 
supplied  were  entirely  without  education ;  and  six  fami- 
lies refused  to  receive  the  Bible  as  a  gift.  He  sold  in 
the  county  one  hundred  and  forty-one  Bibles  and  Testa- 
ments, amounting  to  sixty-three  dollars  and  ninety-one 
cents ;  and  gave  away  eighty-one  Bibles  and  Testaments, 
amounting  to  twenty  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents. 
Father  Kasey's  labors  were  eminently  of  a  missionary 
character.  He  sat  down  with  the  people  at  their  fire- 
sides, exhorted  Christians  to  greater  fidelity  and  zeal 
in  their  Master's  service,  kindly  warned  and  urged  sin- 
ners to  flee  to  Christ  for  salvation,  and  then,  bowing 
with  them  in  prayer,  humbly  and  earnestly  besought 
Gfod's  blessing  upon  them.  What  enterprise  is  more 
Christian,  or  what  work  more  blessed,  than  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  "Word  of  God,  accompanied  with  such  labors  ? 
He  said : 

"  I  have  cause  to  rejoice  for  the  success  I  have  met 
with  in  supplying  the  people  with  the  Holy  Bible, 
and  imparting  religious  instruction.  I  have  been  able 
to  have  religious  conversation  and  prayer  writh  almost 
every  family  I  have  visited,  and  from  all  I  could  learn 
I  was  induced  to  believe  that  it  made  a  good  impres- 
sion on  the  most  of  them.  I  found  a  comfortable 


300  IK  THE  BRUSH. 

home  one  night  with  a  kind  old  brother,  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church.  After  supper  we  sat  in  the  parlor,  and 
he  went  on  to  speak  of  his  efforts  to  train  up  his  chil- 
dren in  the  fear  of  the  Lord ;  but  none  of  them  were 
yet  Christians.  He  had  become  discouraged,  and  seemed 
almost  to  give  them  up.  I  advised  him  to  continue 
his  prayer  and  efforts,  believing  that  God  would  bring 
them  in — if  not  in  his  day,  when  he  was  gone.  Some 
of  his  children  were  present,  and  my  conversation  and 
prayer  seemed  to  make  a  good  impression  upon  the 
family.  Some  time  afterward  several  of  his  children 
were  converted  and  united  with  the  church. 

"  In  my  travels  I  called  at  a  house  where  they  had 
no  Bible  or  Testament,  but  gladly  received  one  as  a 
gift.  After  conversation  and  prayer,  I  exhorted  the 
woman  to  seek  the  Lord.  She  wept  very  bitterly  as 
I  addressed  her,  and  said  she  intended  to  do  so.  She 
was  as  deeply  affected  as  any  person  I  ever  saw,  and 
as  I  bade  her  good-by  she  held  me  by  the  hand  sev- 
eral minutes,  refusing  to  let  me  go.  She  said  she  had 
not  been  in  the  habit  of  attending  church,  but  she 
would  do  so  from  that  time.  I  pointed  her  to  the 
Lamb  of  God,  and  she  promised  to  seek  religion  with 
all  her  heart.  She  said  I  must  attend  a  meeting  that 
had  been  appointed  to  be  held  in  the  neighborhood. 
I  did  so,  and  found  her  happy  in  the  love  of  God,  and 
she  has  since  united  .with  the  Church  of  Christ.  I 
afterward  saw  her  husband,  who  was  a  very  wicked 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  301 

man.  He  seemed  deeply  affected,  and  promised  to 
seek  religion ;  and  I  trust  he,  too,  may  be  converted. 

"I  called  upon  another  family,  where  the  man  had 
previously  had  a  Bible,  but  had  burned  it.  Afterward 
he  became  convicted,  and  was  anxious  for  another. 
I  sold  him  a  Bible,  exhorted  him  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian, and  trust  he  will  be  a  better  man. 

"I  found  another  man  who  had  lived  to  a  good 
old  age,  and  had  twenty  children  now  living,  three 
having  gone  to  the  eternal  world.  The  family  was 
destitute  of  any  portion  of  the  Bible.  I  gave  him  the 
Word  of  God,  exhorted  him  to  seek  the  Lord,  prayed 
with  him,  hoping  that  the  good  Lord  would  save  him 
and  his  large  family,  as  they  were  all  irreligious.  He 
received  my  visit  thankfully. 

"I  rode  up  to  a  very  poor  cabin,  in  a  hollow,  and 
found  a  woman  plowing  with  one  horse.  Several  lit- 
tle children,  very  ragged,  were  playing  near  her.  I 
asked  her  if  she  had  a  Bible.  She  said  she  had  not — 
she  was  very  poor ;  her  husband  was  dead,  and  she 
had  several  children,  none  of  whom  were  large  enough 
to  help  her,  and  she  was  trying  to  raise  something  for 
them  to  eat.  I  asked  her  if  she  did  not  want  a  Bible. 
She  said,  '  Oh,  yes,  very  much,  but  I  am  too  poor  to 
buy  one.'  I  told  her  it  was  my  business  to  seek  out 
the  poor  and  the  destitute,  and  supply  them  with  the 
Bible.  I  then  gave  her  one,  which  she  received  with 
a  great  deal  of  thankfulness.  I  told  her  the  Lord  had 


302 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


promised  to  be  a  God  to  the  widow  and  the  fatherless, 
and  exhorted  her  to  put  her  trust  in  him.  As  I  rode 
away,  she  followed  me  with  her  thanks,  and  her  prayers 
that  the  Lord  would  bless  me. 

"There  were  many  other  interesting  circumstances, 
that  made  a  lasting  impression  upon  my  mind.  The 
good  accomplished  by  the  Lord,  through  his  humble 
servant,  by  this  distribution  of  the  "Word  of  God,  will 
not  be  known  in  this  world.  My  heart  is  in  this  work, 
for  I  know  I  am  engaged  in  a  good  work." 

Mr.  Lutes  was  commissioned  to  undertake  the  re- 
exploration  and  supply  of  a  county  where  I  had  re- 
organized a  society  that  had  been  inactive  for  many 
years.  During  the  first  three  months  of  his  labor  he 
visited  six  hundred  and  thirty-three  families,  of  whom 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight — more  than  one  fifth — 
were  destitute  of  the  Bible.  He  sold  two  hundred 
and  twenty-eight  Bibles  and  Testaments,  amounting  to 
one  hundred  and  seventeen  dollars  and  six  cents,  and 
gave  away  forty-five,  amounting  to  ten  dollars  and  for- 
ty-nine cents.  In  speaking  of  his  great  amazement 
at  finding  so  many  families  destitute  of  the  Bible,  he 
said: 

"Experience  has  taught  me  that  a  poor  and  very 
incorrect  estimate  will  be  made  in  regard  to  this  matter 
while  we  remain  at  home — while  we  look  upon  our 
Bibles  and  say :  '  How  cheap  such  books  are  !  Surely 
everybody  must  have  them.'  I  have  found,  to  my 


I  gave  her  a  Bible,  and  as   I   rode  away  she  followed  me  with 
her  thanks  and  her  prayers. 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  303 

great  surprise,  fifteen  families  in  which  either  the  hus- 
band or  wife,  or  both,  were  members  of  some  Protes- 
tant church,  and  had  no  Bible.  I  visited  three  desti- 
tute families  in  succession :  the  first,  a  poor  widow ; 
the  second,  husband  and  wife,  both  members  of  the 
church;  the  third  wanted  spiritual-rapping  looks,  but 
was  finally  persuaded  to  buy  a  Bible.  I  gave  a  poor 
man  a  Bible,  and  next  Sabbath  he  and  his  wife  were 
both  at  church,  a  very  uncommon  sight.  I  visited  a 
school-teacher,  a  liberally  educated  Irishman,  but  very 
poor.  He  said  he  had  neither  Bible  nor  Testament, 
and  that  he  should  like  a  large  Testament  in  his  fam- 
ily. He  cheerfully  paid  me  for  one.  I  visited  a  poor 
widow,  a  church-member,  who  had  been  a  housekeeper 
many  years,  had  children  married  and  removed  to  a 
distant  State ;  but  she  had  no  Bible.  Poor  creature !  I 
gave  her  one,  and  she  wished  me  to  fill  out  the  family 
record  for  her ;  but  she  had  neglected  the  matter  so  long 
that  she  had  lost  all  trace  of  the  date  of  births,  mar- 
riages, and  deaths.  In  the  next  family  the  husband 
seemed  indifferent  about  the  book,  but  the  wife  want- 
ed it,  which  I  readily  discovered.  '  I'm  poor,'  said 
he;  and  his  wife  said,  'He  was  unable  to  work  dur- 
ing the  summer.'  '  I  have  Bibles  for  thirty  cents.' 
'  "Well,  I  haven't  money  enough  to  pay  for  one.'  '  You 
can  have  it  at  your  own  price.'  'I  don't  like  to  take 
a  book  that  way.'  '  It  makes  no  difference ;  I  am  au- 
thorized to  make  this  offer  to  you:  you  can  have  it 


304  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

for  ten  or  fifteen  cents.'  '  Certainly ;  I'd  give  ten  cents 
for  a  Bible  any  time.'  This  saved  his  pride.  He  has 
been  greatly  pleased  with  his  Bible,  and  whenever  I 
pass  his  house  he  comes  out  and  asks  me  questions 
relative  to  my  success,  and  gives  me  directions  how  to 
pass  over  the  country,  as  if  he  were  one  of  the  'Ex- 
ecutive Committee.'  I  sold  a  Bible  to  an  Irish  toll- 
gate-keeper.  I  had  been  on  the  pike  about  a  mile, 
and  asked  him  the  toll.  '  Nothing,  sir ;  are  you  a  doc- 
tor?' 'No,  sir,  I  am  a  bookseller.  Do  you  wish  to 
buy?'  'I  reckon  not;  I  work  six  days  on  the  road, 
and  on  Sundays  I  read  a  newspaper.'  'Have  you  a 
Bible  ? '  '  No,  sir.'  '  "Wouldn't  you  like  to  have  one  ? ' 
'  I  believe  I  would,  but  I  have  no  money.'  '  It  makes 
no  difference  ;  if  you  have  no  Bible  and  want  one, 
I'll  leave  it.'  '  I  don't  like  to  take  it  in  that  way.' 
'  No  difference ;  if  you'll  read  it  carefully,  we  shall  be 
well  paid.'  'Why,'  said  he,  when  I  told  him  the 
price  was  twenty-five  cents,  '  in  Ireland  the  bind- 
ing would  be  more  than  that ;  and  I'll  pay  you  the 
first  time  you  pass  this  gate.'  I  went  down  a  creek 
nearly  a  mile  to  see  a  family,  and  came  back.  When 
some  three  hundred  yards  from  the  toll-gate,  I  saw 
the  keeper  sitting  upon  the  ground,  leaning  against 
the  house,  perfectly  absorbed  in  reading  his  Bible.  He 
has  since  paid  me  for  it,  and  he  and  his  wife  are 
greatly  pleased  with  it.  Staid  all  night  with  a  poor 
family;  wife  a  church-member,  and  no  Bible;  husband 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  305 

careless,  but  wife  anxious  to  have  one.  In  the  morn- 
ing I  took  a  thirty -cent  Bible  from  my  saddle-bags 
and  commenced  filling  out  the  family  record.  Said 
he :  'I  don't  want  you  to  give  me  that  book.  I  don't 
charge  you  for  staying  all  night.'  '  I  find  you  desti- 
tute, and  wish  you  to  have  a  Bible.'  He  stood  for 
some  time,  then  went  to  a  drawer,  and,  finding  a 
quarter,  gave  it  to  me,  saying  it  was  all  he  had,  and 
kindly  invited  me  to  call  again. 

"One  day  I  visited  twenty-one  families,  eleven  of 
whom  were  destitute  of  the  Bible.  Another  day  I  vis- 
ited twenty  families,  and  found  ten  destitute  of  the 
Bible.  During  the  spring  I  left  a  box  of  books  at  the 
house  of  a  magistrate,  as  a  depositary,  while  I  visited 
the  neighborhood.  Said  he,  'Do  you  think  you  will 
find  anybody  here  without  a  Bible  ? '  'I  don't  know, 
sir.'  '  Some  two  years  since,'  said  he,  '  I  looked  around 
and  could  not  find  but  one  man  destitute,  and  him  I 
supplied.' 

"  I  commenced  my  labors,  and  found  his  partner  in 
a  mill  destitute ;  then  one  of  his  hands,  having  a  fam- 
ily ;  then  an  old  neighbor,  who  was  a  church-member. 
The  squire  gave  it  up,  and  said  it  was  necessary  to 
have  colporteurs. 

"  In  some  of  these  destitute  neighborhoods  they  told 
me  that  no  person  had  ever  visited  them  before  with 
Bibles  and  Testaments.  They  occupied  a  very  broken 
country ;  their  houses  were  cabins  scattered  over  the 


306  IX  THE  BRUSH. 

hills  aiid  up  narrow  valleys,  with  very  small  patches 
of  ground  fenced  in  around  them,  generally  with  no 
bars,  and  always  with  no  gates.  I  traveled  among 
them,  following  the  rocky  beds  of  the  streams,  and 
frequently  led  my  horse  up  and  down  the  steep  hills, 
and  pulled  down  fences,  till  at  night  I  was  so  tired 
I  could  scarcely  walk.  I  have  had  many  discourage- 
ments, many  taunts  and  sneers  to  bear  from  those  who 
had  not  the  love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  their  hearts  ; 
but  then  I  have  had  the  smiles,  the  assistance,  and  the 
warm  cooperation  of  Christians  to  hold  up  my  feeble 
hands,  and  cheer  up  my  desponding  heart.  I  have 
found  such  families  with  six,  eight,  and  ten  Bibles  in 
a  single  house;  I  have  found  many  who  have  thrown 
open  their  doors  and  bid  me  welcome  to  the  hospital- 
ity of  their  homes,  who,  by  their  kind  words  and  their 
questions  respecting  my  work,  caused  me  to  forget 
the  sneers  and  taunts  of  others,  and  made  me  adore 
the  Almighty  for  the  success  with  which  he  crowned 
the  labors  of  his  servants  employed  in  his  vineyard. 
May  the  Lord  inspire  the  minds  of  Christians  with 
greater  zeal  for  the  dissemination  of  his  Word!" 

In  another  county  Mr.  Temple  visited  seven  hun- 
dred and  three  families,  of  whom  eighty-three  were 
destitute  of  the  Bible.  His  sales  of  Bibles  and  Testa- 
ments amounted  to  ninety  dollars  and  forty  cents,  and 
his  donations  to  the  destitute  to  forty-three  dollars 
and  twenty-five  cents.  The  exploration  of  the  county 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  307 

revealed  a  much  greater  amount  of  poverty  and  des- 
titution of  the  Word  of  God  than  he  had  expected  to 
find.  The  following  are  some  of  the  incidents  con- 
nected with  his  labors : 

"A  poor  widow  with  five  children  had  no  Bible, 
but  she  had  a  small  Testament,  which  she  got  her 
children  to  read  to  her,  as  it  was  difficult  for  her  to 
read  such  small  print.  She  had  long  been  anxious  to 
get  a  Bible,  and  was  delighted  when  I  told  her  I  had 
Bibles  for  sale,  but  she  feared  she  had  not  money 
enough  to  get  one.  She  was  greatly  pleased  with  the 
large  Testament  and  Psalms,  as  she  could  read  the 
print.  She  gathered  together  all  the  money  she  and 
her  children  had,  and  made  up  twenty-five  cents,  for 
which  I  gave  her  the  Testament  and  Psalms.  In  an- 
other neighborhood  I  was  told  by  a  good  many  per- 
sons of  a  poor  widow  that  had  no  Bible,  who  was  very 
anxious  to  get  one.  Her  Bible  had  been  wet  and  ru- 
ined in  moving  from  North  Carolina,  and  she  had 
been  several  years  without  one.  She  had  been  saving 
money  from  the  sale  of  eggs  and  chickens  to  get 
enough  to  buy  a  Bible.  When  I  reached  the  place,  I 
found  a  poor  cabin  in  an  old  field,  and  everything  in- 
dicating great  poverty.  A  chair  was  standing  in  the 
door,  which  was  open,  but  there  was  no  one  at  home. 
I  wrote  in  a  Bible,  'Presented  by  the  Bible  Society,' 
and  left  it  in  the  chair,  and  rode  on. 

"I   heard   of  one   old    man   who   had   nine  grown 


308  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

children,  and  had  never  had  a  Bible  or  Testament  in 
his  family.  I  was  told  that  he  was  a  skeptic  and  very 
profane,  and  that  I  had  better  not  visit  him,  as  he 
would  treat  me  roughly.  I  found  him  plowing,  and 
talked  with  him  a  long  time  about  farming,  and  at 
length  about  our  dependence  upon  God  for  crops,  and 
finally  told  him  I  was  selling  Bibles.  He  invited  me 
to  dine  with  him,  and  I  went  to  his  house  and  sold 
him  a  family  Bible,  and  also  sold  Bibles  to  a  married 
son  and  daughter.  The  old  man  did  not  use  a  pro- 
fane word  during  my  visit,  and  I  was  never  treated 
better  by  any  man.  He  thanked  me  for  my  visit,  and 
begged  me  to  call  on  him  whenever  I  passed  that  way. 
"  I  visited  a  house  and  found  no  one  at  home.  As 
the  family  was  evidently  very  poor,  and  I  had  learned 
that  they  had  no  Bible,  I  wrote  on  one,  'Presented 
by  the  Bible  Society,'  and  left  it  between  the  logs, 
near  the  door,  where  they  would  be  sure  to  find  it 
when  they  came  home.  I  rode  on  about  two  miles, 
and  called  at  another  house.  As  soon  as  I  showed  my 
Bibles,  one  of  the  women  said  she  was  sorry  she  was 
not  at  home,  as  she  had  no  Bible  and  had  long  been 
anxious  to  get  one.  She  thought  she  had  money 
enough  to  get  a  thirty -cent  Bible,  and  if  I  would  go 
back  with  her  she  would  buy  one  if  she  could.  I 
then  told  her  I  had  left  a  Bible  for  her,  and  where 
she  would  find  it,  and  she  thanked  me  very  warmly 
for  the  gift. 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  309 

"I  visited  another  family  that  had  no  Bible,  and 
sold  them  one.  As  the  children  were  looking  at  my 
books,  I  heard  a  little  girl,  about  ten  years  old,  say 
that  she  wished  she  had  money  enough  to  buy  one  of 
these  Bibles ;  that  her  mother,  when  she  talked  with 
her  before  she  died,  had  told  her  she  must  get  a  Bible 
as  soon  as  she  could,  and  read  it,  and  be  a  good  girl, 
and  meet  her  in  heaven.  I  inquired  her  history,  and 
learned  that  she  was  an  orphan.  I  then  gave  her  a 
Bible,  and  she  commenced  reading  it.  Dinner  was 
soon  ready,  but  she  could  not  be  induced  to  stop 
reading  long  enough  to  eat,  and  when  I  left  the 
house  she  was  still  reading  her  new  Bible." 

Father  Eggen,  a  veteran  Bible  distributor,  said : 
"  One  man  told  me  he  had  a  neighbor  who  was  very 
poor,  who  had  no  Bible,  and  I  gave  him  one  to  send 
to  him.  I  afterward  called  on  this  family,  not  know- 
ing it  was  the  same.  The  house  was  without  floor  or 
loft,  and  was  inclosed  by  nailing  rough  boards  upon 
posts  that  were  driven  into  the  ground.  It  had  a 
stick-and-mud  chimney  on  the  outside,  and  was  with- 
out floor  of  any  kind,  the  family  living  on  the  ground. 
The  man  followed  making  split-bottomed  chairs,  and 
was  very  poor  indeed,  but  he  insisted  upon  paying 
for  the  Bible  that  had  been  sent  to  him,  and  did  so. 

"  In  one  neighborhood  where  there  was  a  small 
supply  of  Bibles  and  Testaments  at  a  store,  the  man 

who    had  them,   a   professing   Christian,    insisted    that 
14 


310  AV  THE  BRUSH. 

there  was  no  necessity  for  employing  a  distributor  to 
go  around;  said  that,  if  people  wanted  Bibles,  they 
could  easily  come  to  the  store  and  get  them.  I,  how- 
ever, went  through  this  neighborhood,  and  found  in 
one  day  fifteen  families  without  a  Bible.  Some  of 
them  were  very  large  families,  and  had  been  destitute 
for  many  years." 

It  is  now  (August  1,  1881)  more  than  twenty-three 
years  since  I  resigned  my  commission  as  an  agent  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  During  the  last  week  I  have 
visited  the  Bible  House,  examined  their  well-preserved 
files  of  letters,  and  read  the  correspondence  between 
Secretary  McNeill  and  myself  during  the  last  months 
of  my  connection  with  the  Society.  Some  extracts  from 
these  letters  will  appropriately  close  this  brief  review  of 
"  work  accomplished  in  the  Southwest." 


LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY,  April  2,  1858. 
Rev.  JAMES  H.  MoNEiLL,  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society, 

New  York. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHEE  :  Herewith  you  have  my  annual  report.  .  .  . 
My  duties  the  last  year,  as  well  as  all  the  other  years  of  my 
agency,  have  involved  a  great  deal  of  labor  and  self-denial.  The 
field  assigned  to  my  supervision  is  very  large,  and,  in  order  to  ac- 
complish thoroughly  the  great  work  of  "  home  supply,"  it  has  been 
necessary  for  me  to  visit  every  county  on  horseback.  I  have  thus 
ridden  many  thousands  of  miles,  exposed  to  all  the  extremes  of  heat 
and  cold,  traveling  over  the  roughest  of  roads,  fording  rivers,  pene- 
trating the  wildest  regions,  eating  the  coarsest  food,  and  sleeping  in 
the  worst  of  beds.  But  I  have  everywhere  received  a  cordial  wel- 
come, and  I  wish  here  to  record  my  testimony  that  such  service  in 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  311 

A 

such  a  cause  is  a  blessed  service.  I  weep  tears  of  gratitude  that 
God  has  permitted  me  thus  to  labor  for  the  dissemination  of  his 
Word.  And  now  that  his  Spirit  is  being  poured  out  so  copiously  all 
over  our  land,*  I  rejoice  exceedingly  that  I  have  been  permitted  to 
cooperate  with  others  in  sowing  so  much  "good  seed"  against  these 
times  of  refreshing  from  on  high.  I  pray  that  all  the  seed  thus 
sown  may  bear  abundant  fruit. 

Yours  cordially, 

H.  W.  PlERSOX. 


LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY,  May  28,  1858. 
Rev.  JAMES  H.  McNEiix,  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 

MY  DEAE  BROTHER  :  I  reached  the  city  on  my  return  from  the 
western  part  of  the  State  on  Wednesday  morning,  after  an  absence 
of  more  than  six  weeks.  The  tour  was  one  of  the  most  successful 
and  gratifying  I  have  ever  made.  I  find  here  letters  and  papers  that 
have  been  accumulating  during  ray  absence,  and  have  been  exceed- 
ingly busy  in  posting  myself  up,  and  getting  square  with  the  world. 
All  your  anniversary  excitements  have  come  off  while  I  was  in  the 
Brush,  and  I  have  been  trying  to  find  out  where  you  have  left  the 
world.  I  have  read  the  "Christian  Intelligencer's "  full  report  of 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Tract  Society.  I  should  have  been  de- 
lighted to  be  an  eye-witness  of  the  fight,  t  On  my  last  tour  I  learned 

that,  of  nine  hundred  and  twenty-five  families  visited  in  G 

County,  one  hundred  and  sixty  had  no  part  of  the  Word  of  God  in 
their  houses — not  a  leaf  or  a  letter !  Oh,  it  is  a  burning  shame  to 
American  Christianity,  and  especially  to  the  American  Bible  Society, 
that  such  facts  as  these  can  be  reported  in  the  forty-third  year  of  its 
history !  But  I  am  speaking  warmly,  nevertheless  truly. 

I  leave  the  city  to-day,  and  expect  to  spend  the  Sabbath  at 
Paducah,  Kentucky,  and  go  on  to  Princeton  early  in  the  week.  I 
have  been  unanimously  elected  President  and  Professor  of  Mental 
and  Moral  Philosophy  in  Cumberland  College,  at  Princeton,  Ken- 
tucky, and  the  terms  are  so  very  liberal,  and  the  people  are  so  very 
earnest  to  have  me  accept  the  appointment,  that  I  am  going  down 

*  The  great  revival  that  followed  the  financial  revulsion  of  1857. 
f  On  the  slavery  question. 


312 


TUE  BRUSH. 


to  see  them  and  give  them  my  answer.  The  probabilities  are,  that 
I  shall  accept,  and  send  you  my  resignation,  to  take  effect  as  soon  as 
I  can  close  np  the  work  in  several  counties  where  it  is  nearly  com- 
pleted. I  will  thank  you  not  to  make  this  matter  public  until  I  re- 
sign formally.  I  write  now  in  order  to  have  yon  take  steps  in  re- 
gard to  my  successor.  I  feel  a  good  deal  of  solicitude  to  have  one 
appointed  who  will  carry  on  the  work  as  I  have  been  prosecuting  it. 
I  think  there  will  be  a  general  solicitude  on  the  subject  over  the 
field.  I  have,  therefore,  kept  this  college  matter  a  secret  here,  in 
order  than  you  might  have  more  time  for  considering  the  subject 
before  my  resignation  is  known  to  the  public.  I  will  cheerfully  render 
any  advice  or  aid  in  my  power  in  the  matter. 

Yours  ut  semper,  II.  W.  PIEBSOX, 

Agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 

BIBLE  HOCSE,  ASTOP.  PLACE,  NEW  YORK,  June  28,  1858. 
Rev.  H.  W.  PIEKSON. 

MY  BEAR  BEOTHEE:  .  .  .  But  what  shall  I  say  of  the  announce- 
ment of  your  purpose  to  leave  this  good  work  ?  Only  that  I  regret 
it  most  deeply.  I  stated  to  the  Agency  Committee  your  intention 
and  its  reasons.  Of  course,  they  could  not  oppose  your  wishes,  and 
directed  me  to  inquire  for  your  successor.  I  am  anxious  to  find  a 
man  who  will  carry  on  the  work  as  you  have  been  doing.  Can  you 
name  any  one  ?  Do  so  if  jx>u  know  the  man.  But  I  trust  you  have 
ere  this  reconsidered  the  matter,  and  will  withhold  your  resignation. 
In  my  opinion,  your  present  position  is  one  of  far  more  usefulness 
than  the  presidency  of  Cumberland  College,  if  that  were  the  great- 
est college  in  the  land.  Let  me  hear  from  you  soon. 

Cordially  yours,  JAMES  H.  M<-XEILL, 

Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 

LOUISVILLE,  KEJOTCKY,  July  9,  1858. 
Rev.  JAMES  H.  MC-XEILL,  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society, 

.\'or  Tort. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER  :  Since  my  last  report  I  have  completed  my 
annual  exploration  of  the  seven  counties  lying  west  of  the  Tennes- 
see Rivor,  and  known  as  "Jackson's  Purchase"  —  from  the  fact  that 
General  Jui-ksun  was  the  agent  of  the  United  States  Government  in 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  313 

buying  it  from  the  Indians.  I  have  been  greatly  delighted  at  what 
I  have  learned,  in  ah1  these  counties,  of  the  progress  that  has  been 
made  in  the  good  work  of  Bible  distribution  during  the  past  year. 
A  little  more  than  a  year  ago  I  organized  the  Paducah  and  Vicin- 
ity Bible  Society,  including  McCracken,  Marshall,  Galloway,  and 
Graves  Counties.  I  immediately  visited  and  preached  in  all  those 
counties,  secured  colporteurs  sent  them  Bibles,  and  made  full  ar- 
rangements to  have  them  thoroughly  explored  and  supplied.  I 
have  already  ordered  more  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars'  worth  of 
books  for  this  Society,  and  the  good  work  has  progressed  most  en- 
couragingly. One  of  the  distributors  reports  :  "  I  have  been  labor- 
ing hi  one  part  of  the  most  destitute  portion  of  the  county.  The 
part  of  which  I  speak  is  a  slope  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the 
county,  embracing,  perhaps,  a  hundred  families.  In  this  whole 
slope  there  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  any  church.  Most  of  the 
people  are  uneducated,  there  having  been  no  schools.  I  one  day 
visited  seventeen  families,  nine  of  whom  had  no  Bible,  and  several 
of  whom  had  no  book  of  any  kind  in  their  houses." 

It  is  impossible  to  give  to  any  one  who  has  not  a  personal 
knowledge  of  the  country  thus  visited  any  adequate  conception  of 
the  good  accomplished  by  these  labors.  Less  than  half  the  county 
has  been  explored,  but  I  have  made  arrangements  with  Father 
Gregory,  the  distributor,  to  continue  the  work  until  every  family 
has  been  visited  and  all  the  destitute  supplied. 

After  completing  my  work  in  these  counties  I  went  to  Colum- 
bus, Kentucky.  Here  I  found  a  very  noble  work  had  been  accom- 
plished. I  have  ordered  for  them  during  the  year  more  than  seven 
hundred  dollars'  worth  of  Bibles.  I  next  visited  Hickman,  Fulton 
County.  The  society  that  I  organized  there  last  year  has  not  been 
able  to  secure  a  colporteur,  but  hope  soon  to  make  arrangements  to 
have  their  county  supplied.  I  have  already  ordered  about  twenty- 
five  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  Bibles  for  the  "Purchase,"  and  more 
than  one  thousand  dollars'  worth  more  will  be  needed  to  complete 
the  work  that  is  in  such  successful  progress.  The  friends  of  the 
oau-e  in  all  these  counties  are  astonished  and  delighted  at  what  .has 
been  accomplished  already,  and  the  bright  prospects  for  the  future. 
Laus  Deo.  Your  brother  in  Christ,  H.  W.  PIEBSOX, 

Agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 


314  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

BIBLE  HOUSE,  ASTOR  PLACE,  NEW  YOBK,  July  15,  1858. 
Rev.  II.  W.  PIEBSOJT. 

MY  DEAR  BBOTIIEB  :  1  have  just  received  yours  of  the  9th  in- 
stant, giving  an  account  of  your  visit  to  the  seven  counties  lying 
west  of  the  Tennessee  Kiver,  and  known  as  "  Jackson's  Purchase," 
where  you  have  the  satisfaction  of  observing  decided  and  gratifying 
progress  in  the  good  work  of  Bihle  distribution  during  the  past 
year.  In  reading  your  report  of  what  has  been  accomplished,  I  was 
almost  as  much  "delighted"  as  you  could  have  been  in  seeing 
with  your  own  eyes  the  progress  of  the  good  work. 

And,  now,  can  you  reconcile  it  to  your  own  heart  and  conscience 
to  abandon  such  a  field  and  such  a  work  ?  I  confess  I  do  not  see 
how  you  can,  and  I  hope  to  receive  very  soon  your  ultimate  deci- 
sion declining  the  call  to  the  college  at  Princeton.  Did  you  receive 
my  last  at  Louisville?  Since  writing  it  I  have  had  a  letter  from 
our  friend  Rev.  W.  F.  Talbot,  of  Columbus,  Kentucky,  protesting 
against  your  being  allowed  to  leave  the  Bible  work,  and  urging  us  to 
do  all  in  our  power  to  retain  you.  I  answered  him  that  I  hoped 
you  would  not  be  tempted  to  leave  us  by  any  considerations  other 
than  those  of  clear  and  imperative  duty ;  and,  as  yonr  own  mind 
had  not  been  fully  made  up  when  you  last  wrote,  I  thought  it  most 
likely  that  you  would  continue  in  the  Agency. 

Now,  let  me  again,  in  behalf  of  our  committee,  in  behalf  of  the 
great  work  now  in  progress  in  that  field,  and  in  behalf  of  the  future 
interests  of  the  Bible  cause  there,  protest  against  your  desertion ! 
Think  of  the  many  friends  whom  you  have  gained  for  yourself  per- 
sonally, while  you  were  securing  their  affections  and  cooperation 
for  the  Bible  Society,  who  will  be  in  great  danger  of  falling  back 
into  their  former  indifference  and  inactivity,  should  they  lose 
your  active  support.  In  fact,  I  do  not  see  how  we  can  let  you 
go  1  If  you  do  go,  it  will  be  in  the  face  of  our  remonstrances, 
and  those  of  every  friend  of  the  cause  in  your  field.  Please  let  us 
hear  from  yon  at  your  earliest  convenience. 

Cordially  yours, 

JAMES  H.  MC^EILL, 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  315 

Notwithstanding  the  earnestness  of  these  entreaties, 
I  felt  compelled  to  retire  from  this  work.  Xo  one  could 
appreciate  its  importance  more  highly  than,  from  my 
personal  knowledge  of  its  needs,  I  did.  But  for  more 
than  ten  years  since  my  graduation  from  the  theologi- 
cal seminary,  I  had  been  constantly  "  on  the  wing."  As 
stated  in  my  opening  chapter,  I  had  spent  five  years 
as  an  invalid  wanderer.  I  had  .roamed  over  the 
Southern  States  nearly  a  year,  had  made  two  visits  to 
the  Island  of  Hayti,  and  spent  a  second  winter  in  the 
South.  I  had  then  entered  upon  these  itinerant  labors, 
in  which  I  had  spent  nearly  five  years  more.  I  was 
not  weary  of  the  work,  but  I  wanted  change ;  I  sighed 
for  rest  and  an  opportunity  to  study — to  commune 
again  with  my  beloved  books  that  had  remained  un- 
opened during  all  these  years.  In  addition  to  these 
personal  desires,  my  labors  had  revealed  the  impera- 
tive demand  for  the  liberal  education  of  as  many  as 
possible  of  the  young  men  in  the  wide  region  I  had 
so  thoroughly  explored;  and  a  large  number  of  my 
"many  friends"  had  signified  to  me  their  strong  de- 
sire to  place  their  sons  in  the  college  should  I  accept 
the  appointment.  I  therefore  wrote  my  resignation,  as 
follows : 

LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY,  July  12,  1858. 
Kev.  JAMES  H.  McNEiix,  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society, 

New  YorTc. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER:  I  have  already  informed  you  that  I  had 
heen  elected  President  and  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Philoso- 
phy in  Cumberland  College,  Princeton,  Kentucky. 


316  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

After  mature  and  prayerful  consideration  of  the  whole  subject, 
I  have  decided  to  accept  the  appointment ;  and  I  therefore  resign 
my  commission  as  Agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society  for  West- 
ern Kentucky. 

It  is  not  without  deep  emotion  that  I  thus  sunder  my  official 
connection  with  this  noble  institution.  For  nearly  five  years  I  have 
labored  to  promote  its  interests,  and  during  this  entire  period  all  my 
correspondence  and  intercourse  with  its  different  officers  has  been 
of  the  most  pleasant  character.  I  can  not  recall  a  single  word  or 
act  that  has  marred  the  harmony  of  our  relations. 

The  field  assigned  me  is  very  large — with  meager  facilities  for 
traveling — and  on  this  account  my  duties  have  been  very  laborious. 
I  have  again  and  again  ridden  on  horseback  over  all  the  counties 
southward  from  this  city  to  the  Tennessee  line,  and  westward  to  the 
Mississippi  River.  I  have  preached  repeatedly  in  all  of  them, 
solicited  donations,  secured  colporteurs,  ordered  Bibles  for  them, 
and  made  full  arrangements  to  have  all  the  families  visited,  and 
every  destitute  household  supplied  with  the  inestimable  WORD  by 
sale  or  gift.  I  have  thus  ridden  thousands  of  miles  over  the 
roughest  roads,  exposed  to  every  variety  of  weather. 

But,  though  laborious  and  self-denying,  I  have  found  this  a 
blessed  service — rich  in  physical  as  well  as  spiritual  rewards.  Com- 
mencing with  lungs  diseased,  and  a  body  enfeebled  by  years  of  ill 
health.  I  have  rejoiced  in  an  almost  constant  sense  of  returning 
strength  and  vigor,  up  to  the  present  moment — until  now  there  are 
few  that  can  endure  more  physical  toil  than  I  can. 

My  numerous  reports  have  furnished  abundant  yet  very  inade- 
quate evidences  of  the  rich  spiritual  rewards  that  have  crowned 
these  efforts  to  scatter  the  "good  seed "  of  the  Word.  Again  and 
again  the  sower  and  the  reaper  have  rejoiced  together.  Hundreds 
and  thousands  of  families,  that  were  living  without  the  sacred  vol- 
ume, are  now  rejoicing  in  its  blessed  light ;  and  other  multitudes 
that  are  still  destitute  will  soon  receive  the  heavenly  boon.  And 
God's  blessing  will  surely  attend  his  own  Word.  "  For  as  the  snow 
cometh  down,  and  the  rain  from  heaven,"  etc.  etc. 

Be  assured,  my  dear  brother,  I  shall  ever  cherish  a  profound  and 
lively  interest  in  the  operations  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 
Though  Providence  seems  to  call  me  to  another  sphere  of  duty,  I 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN~  THE  SOUTHWEST.  317 

shall  ever  rejoice  to  do  all  in  ray  power  to  promote  its  interests.  I  shall 
ever  cherish  the  most  pleasant  recollections  of  my  connection  with 
it,  and  especially  of  my  correspondence  and  associations  with  you. 
Praying  that  God  may  richly  bless  you,  and  all  its  officers, 
agents,  and  friends,  I  remain 

Yours  in  the  best  of  bonds, 

H.  W.  PIEKSON. 

In  the  following  October  I  mounted  my  horse  at 
Princeton,  Kentucky,  and  rode  to  Hopkinsville  to  at- 
tend the  Louisville  Annual  Conference,  as  I  had  regu- 
larly done  so  many  years  before.  In  a  copy  of  the 
"Hopkinsville  Mercury,"  October  20,  1858,  now  before 
me,  I  find  the  following  notice  of  my  address,  and  the 
action  of  the  Conference  upon  that  occasion : 

The  Rev.  H.  "W.  Pierson,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  having 
labored  for  a  number  of  years,  with  eminent  success  in  this  State, 
as  an  agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  appeared  in  Conference 
on  Tuesday  morning  and  announced  that  he  had  resigned  the  office 
in  the  discharge  of  which  he  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  nearly 
all  the  Methodist  ministers  in  Kentucky,  as  well  as  those  of  other 
churches.  His  remarks,  in  which  he  expressed  the  deep  regret  and 
pain  with  which  he  took  this  step,  were  very  appropriate,  simple, 
and  touching,  and  were  responded  to  in  very  handsome  terms  by 
Bishop  Kavenaugh,  and  other  members  of  the  Conference.  The 
following  resolution  was  then  unanimously  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  we  express  our  high  appreciation  of  the  faithful- 
ness and  efficiency  of  Kev.  H.  W.  Pierson,  A.  M.,  as  agent  of  the 
American  Bible  Society  in  Western  Kentucky;  that  we  most  cor- 
dially reciprocate  the  feelings  of  brotherly  love  which  he  has  this 
day  expressed,  and  that  we  fervently  pray  the  blessings  of  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church  upon  him,  wherever  his  lot,  in  the  providence 
of  God,  may  be  cast. 

A.  BROWN, 
THOMAS  BOTTOMLT, 
E.  DKAEINQ. 


318  IN  THE  BRUSH. 

CUMBERLAND  COLLEGE,  PRINCETON,  KENTUCKY,  October  12, 1858. 
Rev.  JAMES  H.  McNEiix,  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society, 

New  York. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER  :  .  .  .  I  have  had  a  very  pleasant  time  at 
Conference.  The  "  Bible  Committee  "  presented  a  most  flattering 
resolution  in  regard  to  my  agency  labors.  I  made  the  Conference  a 
valedictory  address,  and  the  Bishop  and  others  responded  to  it  in 
the  kindest  manner.  Another  resolution,  commending  my  labors, 
etc.,  was  then  offered,  and  the  members  were  requested  to  vote  upon 
it  by  rising,  when  the  whole  Conference  arose  to  their  feet.  I  could 
but  be  deeply  moved  by  their  expressions  of  kindness,  and  many 
tears  were  shed  by  them.  I  confess  I  am  amazed  and  astounded  at 
the  kind  words  I  have  received  on  every  hand.  I  had  no  idea  that 
my  labors  had  made  such  an  impression  upon  the  public  mind.  To 
God  be  all  the  praise! 

Yours,  as  ever, 

H.  W.  PLEBSON. 


CONCLUSION   OF   BIBLE   WORK. 

To  see  what  I  have  seen,  and  to  know  what  I 
have  known,  of  the  good  accomplished  by  my  labors, 
have  been  abundant  compensation  for  all  my  travels 
and  for  all  my  toils;  and  I  await,  with  bright  and 
happy  anticipations,  the  fuller  revelations  and  rewards 
of  a  blissful  eternity. 

LABORS   FOR  THE   COLLEGE. 

I  entered  upon  my  duties  as  President  of  Cumber- 
land College,  at  Princeton,  Kentucky,  the  second  Mon- 
day in  September,  1858.  Of  the  commencement  of 
my  labors  there  I  wrote  as  follows: 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  319 

CUMBERLAND  COLLEGE,  PRINCETON,  KENTUCKY,  October  12,  1858. 
Rev.  JAMES  H.  McNEiLL,  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society, 

New  York. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER  :  I  have  been  very  anxious  to  write  you  ever 
since  I  reached  here,  but  have  been  so  very  busy  that  I  could  not 
get  the  time.  I  have  had  a  great  deal  to  do  here  in  the  commence- 
ment of  my  duties,  and  then  I  have  been  absent  every  Sabbath,  and 
a  portion  of  each  week,  attending  presbyteries,  synods,  etc.,  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  college.  Its  friends  are  very  sanguine  in 
regard  to  its  prospects.  They  think  they  have  not  been  as  good  for 
many  years.  All  the  religious  bodies  that  I  have  visited,  the  news- 
papers, and  the  public  at  large,  seem  interested  in  my  success,  and 
are  doing  all  that  they  can  for  the  college.  I  hope  that  I  may  do  a 

great  deal  of  good  in  this  work. 

Yours  as  ever, 

H.  W.  PlERSON. 

My  labors  here  until  1861  were  not  less  exhausting 
than  they  had  been  since  I  entered  upon  my  Bible  work 
in  1853.  In  addition  to  my  duties  in  the  college,  I 
traveled  extensively,  "electioneering"  for  students,  as 
was  the  custom  in  that  region.  Their  numbers  increased 
to  such  an  extent  that  we  needed  an  additional  building. 
I  appealed  to  the  people  of  the  village  and  the  county, 
and  they  responded  most  nobly  by  subscribing  twenty 
thousand  dollars,  and  erecting  a  college  edifice,  with  a 
large  assembly  hall,  library,  recitation  and  all  other 
needed  rooms.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  taking  my  es- 
teemed friend,  the  Right  Rev.  B.  B.  Smith,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Kentucky, 
through  the  building,  on  one  of  his  annual  parochial 
visits  to  the  village,  and  he  pronounced  it  the  most 


320 


IN  THE  BRUSH. 


perfect  and  beautiful  specimen  of   architecture  in  the 

State. 

The  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  events  that  fol- 
lowed it,  compelled  the  suspension  of  this,  as  they  did  of 
nearly  or  quite  every  other  college  in  the  Southwest  and 
South,  and  terminated  my  labors  there.  Wishing  to  en- 
gage in  similar  educational  work  elsewhere,  I  asked  for 
testimonials  from  a  few  of  my  friends,  including  Bishop 
Smith.  He  kindly  gave  the  following,  with  which,  as  I 
at  that  time  terminated  my  labors  in  the  State,  I  will 
close  this  very  personal  volume,  descriptive  of  my  always 
pleasantly  and  gratefully  remembered  life  and  labors  in 
the  Southwest : 

LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY,  September  19,  1861. 

...  I  first  knew  Dr.  Pierson  (then  Mr.  Pierson)  when  acting 
as  Bible  agent  in  the  waste  places  of  Kentucky,  and  our  hearts  were 
strongly  drawn  toward  each  other  in  consequence  of  our  having 
been  "  companions  in  tribulation,  and  in  the  kingdom  and  patience 
of  Jesus  Christ " — I  having  labored  and  suffered  in  behalf  of  the 
same  class  of  persons  as  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  trav- 
eling for  the  greater  part  of  two  years  over  the  roughest  portions 
of  Kentucky.  To  elevate  our  fellow-creatures  so  that  they  can  read 
the  Bible  for  themselves,  and  then  to  give  to  all  such  a  Bible  in 
their  own  tongues,  is  a  noble  work,  and  great  suffering  may  well 
be  cheerfully  endured  in  the  prosecution  of  it. 

His  exertions  in  behalf  of  the  college  at  Princeton  have  attracted 
more  of  my  attention,  and  elicited  my  most  cordial  admiration,  be- 
yond anything  of  the  kind  in  this  State  for  thirty  years.  The  diffi- 
culties to  be  overcome  were  of  no  common  kind,  and  the  means  at 
his  disposal  very  limited ;  the  skill  with  which  he  met  the  one,  and 
the  wisdom  and  energy  with  which  he  drew  forth  the  other,  have 
rarely  been  exceeded.  And  I  have  it  from  the  lips  of  the  most  in- 
telligent persons  in  the  village,  during  my  periodical  visits,  that  no 


WORK  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  THE  SOUTHWEST.  321 

person  they  ever  knew  could  have  awakened  equal  enthusiasm  in  so 
good  a  cause.  For  myself,  I  should  have  looked  upon  the  task  of 
raising  half  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  such  a  village, 
for  such  a  purpose,  as  altogether  impracticable ;  and  yet  Dr.  Pier- 
son  seemed  to  succeed  with  perfect  ease. 

The  teaching  he  was,  of  course,  obliged  to  devolve  in  great  meas- 
ure upon  others.  But  it  has  come  to  my  knowledge  that  he  was 
considered  the  animating  spirit  of  the  whole  concern.  And  it  is 
only  necessary  to  converse  with  him,  from  time  to  time,  to  become 
impressed  with  a  sense  of  his  literary  attainments,  fine  taste,  genial 
nature,  and  earnest,  unaffected  piety. 

His  loss  to  the  college,  should  he  leave  it,  will  be  irreparable, 
and  long  will  it  be  before  his  place  will  be  made  good  to  the  general 
cause  of  education  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  in  the  esteem  and 
affection  of 

His  and  your  friend,  etc., 

B.  B.  SMITH. 


THE   END. 


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form  i 


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the  statement  of  the  case  will  be  in  many  cases  the  strongest  argument.  They 
will  tend  to  broaden  the  minds  of  believers,  and  to  lift  them  above  the  letter  to  the 
plane  of  the  spirit.  They  will  show  that  truth  and  religion  are  capable  of  beiug 
defended  without  violence,  without  denunciation,  without  misrepresentation, 
without  the  impugning  of  motives."— National  Baptist. 

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views.  The  chapter  on  temptation  is  one  of  the  most  original  and  striking  in- 
terpretations of  this  line  of  the  prayer  that  has  been  presented.  The  book  is 
one  that  will  tave  more  than  a  passing  interest.1'—  New  York  Herald. 

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Studies  in  the  Mountain  Instruction. 

By  Rev.  GEORGE  D.  BOARDMAN,  D.  D. 

"  Replete  with  the  Christian  spirit,  and  the  genius  and  learning  for  which  the 
speaker  is  noted."— The  Ckristian  Union. 

The  Endless  Future  of  the  Human  Race. 

A  Letter  to  a  Friend.  By  C.  S.  HENRY,  D.  D.,  author  of  "  Considerations 
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Twelve  Lectures  to  Young  Men  on  Various 
Important  Subjects. 

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History  of  Opinions  on  the  Scriptural  Doctrine 
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The  Book  of  Job : 

Essays  and  a  Metrical  Paraphrase.  By  ROSSITER  W.  RAYMOND,  Ph.  D. 
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OLD    AND    NEW   TESTAMENT. 

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"  No  one  but  a  sound  and  erudite  scholar  could  have  written  these 
commentaries,  but  they  are  quite  free  from  ostentatious  display  of  learn- 
ing. Most  admirable  good  sense  and  discriminating  judgment  reign 
throughout  the  whole.  The  English  style  is  very  remarkable  for  its  un- 
affected simplicity  and  crystal  clearness.  I  do  not  believe  there  can  be 
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HOMILETICAL   INDEX: 

A   HAKD-BOOK    OF 

Texts,  Themes,  and  Authors,  for  the  Use  of  Preach- 
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Testament  in  the  New.  valuable  Appendices. 

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CRITICAL,  EXPLANATORY,  and  PRACTICAL  NOTES  ON  THE 
OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

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EARLY  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE  PRIMERS. 

Edited  by  Professor  GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.  ». 

These  Primers  will  embody,  in  a  few  small  and  inexpensive  volumes, 
the  substance  of  the  characteristic  works  of  the  great  Fathers  of  the 
Church.  The  plan  recognizes  four  groups  of  works : 

1.  The  Apostolic  Fathers  and  the  Apologists  of  the  Second 

Century,  A.  D.  93-180. 

2.  The  Fathers  of  the  Third  Century,  A.  D.  180-325. 

3.  The  Post-Nicene  Greek  Fathers,  A.  D.  325-750. 

4.  The  Post-Nicene  Latin  Fathers,  A.  D.  325-590. 

NOW    READY  : 
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Second  Century. 

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CONTENTS:  Introduction— The  Earlier  Patristic  Writings— THE  APOSTOLIC 
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Literature;  Ignatius — Sketch,  and  Epistle  to  Romans,  Ephesians,  and  Polycarp; 
Polycarp— Sketch,  and  Epistle  to  Philippians ;  Barnabas— Sketch,  and  Epistle. 
Associated  Authors.  Hennas  -Sketch,  and  the  Shepherd ;  Papias— Sketch,  and 
Fragments. 

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CONTENTS;  Progress  of  Christianity  in  the  Third  Century;  GREEK  WRITERS; 
Introduction— Irenseus,  Sketch  of  Life  and  Summaries  of  Works,  with  Extracts 
— Hippolytus,  do.— Clement  of  Alexandria,  do.— Origen,  do. — Gregory  Thauma- 
turgns,  do.— The  other  Greek  Writers ;  LATIN  WRITERS  :  Introduction— Tertul- 
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THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

IN  THE  JEWISH  CHURCH  : 

Twelve  Lectures  on  Biblical  Criticism,  with  Notes.  By  W.  ROBERTSON 
SMITH,  M.  A.,  Recently  Professor  of  Hebrew  and  Exegesis  of  the 
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person  of  fair  general  education  who  has  read  the  Bible.  For  clearness  of  state- 
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"Speaking  after  mature  deliberation,  we  pronounce  Professor  Robertson 
Smith's  book  on  Biblical  Science  one  of  the  most  important  works  that  has  ap- 
peared in  our  time.  It  justifies,  in  a  convincing  and  conclusive  manner,  what  we 
nave  from  first  to  last  maintained  regarding  him — namely,  that  he  was  engaged 
in  an  enterprise  auspicious  to  the  Christian  Church;  that  he  was  not  assailing  the 
faith,  but  fortifying  it.  He  has  not  abandoned  one  jot  or  one  tittle  of  his  princi- 
ples, but  he  now  for  the  first  time  states  them  comprehensively,  and  points  out 
their  natural  and  logical  applications.11 — The  Christian  World  (London). 

"In  his  studies  the  author  has  made  a  careful  use  of  the  studies  of  the  great 
critics  of  England  and  Germ_auy.  But  his  work  is  marked  by  a  spirit  of  intrepid 
independence  ami  an  individuality  which  refuses  to  surrender  at  discretion  to 
anybody.  He  refuses  to  be  lifted  from  his  feet  en  the  solid  rock  of  Christian 
faith,  by  any  passing  wave  of  skepticism.  As  an  introduction  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment for  the  u*e  of  teachers,  and  a  vigorous,  scholarly  statement  of  the  principles 
and  results  of  conservative  Biblical  criticism,  as  related  to  the  Old  Testament, 
these  lectures  will  be  found  specially  serviceable  and  interesting.  And  they  are 
certainly  remarkable  as  an  indication  of  a  liberal  movement  in  the  Scottish 
Church." — New  York  Evening  Express. 

"  Heresy  is  a  difficult  charge  to  prove  nowadays,  and  when  proved  to  the  sat- 
isfaction of  the  religious  court  seems  to  advance  a  man's  reputation  rather  than 
injure  it.  Here  is  Professor  Robertson  Smith,  who  was  found  too  heretical  to 
be  allowed  to  address  the  students  at  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  op  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage and  literature,  who  is  received  in  the  larger  world  with  something  of  the 
prestige  of  a  martyr.  Influential  laymen,  both  in  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow,  have 
requested  him  to  deliver  in  both  cities  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  present  state  of 
Biblical  criticism.  These  lectures  have  now  been  delivered,  and  are  published 
not  only  in  England,  but  in  this  country  also."  —New  York  Times. 

"  How  far  Professor  Smith's  conclusions  may  coincide  with  those  of  our  own 
best  Biblical  scholars  we  shall  not  undertake  to  say,  but  his  work  is  so  able  and 
accurate,  so  scholarly  and  devout,  that  it  will  be  read  with  interest  by  American 
clergymen  and  students,  and  will  stimulate  all  who  read  it  to  make  further  re- 
searches in  the  same  field."—  The  Christian-at-Work. 


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